The Plan of Black
by Molteaser
Summary: Harry Potter Fanfiction set in the time of the Marauders' last year at Hogwarts. Lily hates James Potter and will do everything she can to avoid him. No as easy as she would like to think when Sirius Black is involved. This is my first fanfic so please R&R but no hate. Disclaimer - I own nothing, everything here belongs to JK Rowling. Rated T for some sometime strong language.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

This wasn't happening. Why did it have to happen to her? Lily Evans felt dismayed. She couldn't believe it. "Potter, Headboy? You can't be serious."

Marlene Mckinnon, a tall girl with green grey eyes and long light brown hair grimaced sympathetically. "No, unfortunately I am. Remus told me himself. He thought it would be better coming from me rather than him… or James."

Lily scoffed. "Marlene, nothing could make this situation any better."

Marlene shrugged, "it could be worse."

"How could this be worse?" Lily almost shouted. "I hoped Remus would get picked to be Headboy, instead it had to be Potter. How? He isn't in any way responsible!"

"He's more responsible than Sirius." Alice Prewett, a short girl with short spikey hair and pretty brown eyes said truthfully.

"That isn't saying a lot Al…" Marlene said in an amused voice. "Personally I don't know why you're worrying so much Lils. Dumbledore will have his reasons for making James – I mean Potter Headboy. He's really not that bad you know."

Lily narrowed her eyes at Marlene's slip up at saying Potter's first name. She supposed that she couldn't really blame her though; he was her Quidditch Captain so she was bound to see a different side of him. Still... "Not that bad? Are you kidding? You know how he treats me! How he treats everyone who doesn't fall at his feet!" Lily exploded.

Marlene opened her mouth to reply but Alice said quickly "we should probably get on the train now!"

"Okay then," Lily said taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "We'll see you later then Lily." Marlene said over her shoulder as she started towards the train. "Don't worry, we'll save you some food," Alice said. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Lily said somewhat bitterly.

"HEY! EVANS!"

Oh no Lily thought, her heart sinking. She turned to face Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, two of James Potter's best friends. They were standing about a meter away from her; Sirius was leaning against one of the barriers, watching her with his grey eyes. He had dark hair that fell over his face and everything about him shouted confident. James and Sirius were both considered practically royal by most of the female population of Hogwarts and Sirius in particular had a bit of a reputation. Remus on the other hand was calm and sensible. He had sandy coloured hair and light blue eyes. He was usually the one to pull James and Sirius out of trouble. Remus was the only Marauder that Lily came close to liking. Peter Pettigrew was the last one of their little group and he was the least popular. He was a short, watery eyed little boy who trailed after the others and hero-worshiped James and Sirius.

"What?" Lily snapped irritably.

Sirius pushed himself off the barrier. "Cool it, Evans, I only wanted to know if you've heard the news about James."

"What? That he's Headboy?" Lily said, not using the nicest tone of voice she'd ever used.

Sirius smirked. He could see that she was getting annoyed. "Now there's no need to use that tone with me Evans, I was only asking."

Lily turned away, extremely bothered and irritated.

"I think we'll be seeing a lot more of you this year, Evans!" Sirius shouted after her as Lily walked away from him.

"I really don't think you should tease her like that." Remus said to Sirius as Lily's red hair became invisible in the steam from the train. The crowds of people on the platform were so tightly packed together that Remus sometimes had to physically move them out of the way.

"Why not?" Sirius asked. "It's fun and it's not like she can do anything about it, c'ept put me in detention." He let out a bark of laughter. "And like that's gonna work!" He met Remus's eyes and sighed "okay, okay I'll be more careful."

Remus nodded knowing that he'd get nothing better out of Sirius than that.

"Hey Prongs!" Sirius yelled over the heads of a group of teary eyed first years saying goodbye to their parents.

Remus saw James turn and grin at them.

When he and Peter had reached them, Sirius launched straight in. "So Peter, is what I have heard true? Did you or did you not ask out Dorcas Meadowes?"

"You did what?" Remus exclaimed at the same time as Peter nodded. He looked downcast.

"You can't be serious!" Sirius said. "What in Merlin's name came over you?" then in a slightly more sympathetic voice he said "what did she say?"

"She said that she doesn't date strangers and even if she did then she would only date them if they're taller than her." Peter said miserably.

"HA!" Sirius yelled then he caught sight of Peter's face and said "better luck next time, mate."

Remus checked his watch. "James, we need to get to the prefect carriage soon. You won't want to be late."

James stared at him for a moment.

"Prefect carriage; Headboy and Headgirl need to give instructions to the prefects." Remus prompted.

"Oh right, yeah." James said, catching up with the conversation. They said goodbye to Sirius and Peter and walked away towards the train, Remus mentally preparing himself.

Lily faced the prefects and felt herself growing more and more annoyed at James Potter with each passing second. Suddenly the door slid open and in strode Potter. Lily grinded her teeth together as she saw that hated smirk of assured self-confidence. "You are late." Lily hissed when he reached her.

"It's good to see you too, Evans." James replied dismissively. "Right then, listen up you lot." He said, addressing the prefects in front of him. "You've all just got to do exactly what you did last year."

Lily noticed Remus making frantic hand signals to stop talking. James completely ignored him even though Lily was pretty sure he'd seen.

"Potter," Lily interrupted him. "I am going to talk and you are going to keep your mouth closed and listen." Without waiting for a reply Lily launched into a speech about behaviour leaving Potter standing next to her with his mouth still hanging open.

"He is unbelievable!" Lily announced, bursting into the compartment that Marlene and Alice were in. "We haven't been back one day and he is already getting on my nerves!"

Marlene hardly glanced up from her Quidditch magazine. She just turned the page and said absentmindedly "you know Lily; I don't think he actually tries to get on your nerves." She had her feet propped up on the table and both she and Alice had changed into their school robes.

Alice was amusing herself by throwing bits of scrunched up paper across the floor for her cat Tiger – a small ginger cat whose name was very out of place with its looks. Tiger was jumping on the paper and savaging it to pieces. Alice's boyfriend, Frank Longbottom was also there, playing a game of Wizards Chess with his best friend Martin Darrow who was also Marlene's boyfriend and the Gryffindor Quidditch Keeper.

"Of course he tries to get on my nerves!" Lily exclaimed.

Alice sighed and looked up. "Lily, you don't honestly think that, do you?"

Lily frowned. "You two are supposed to be on my side."

"We are Lils." Marlene said barely glancing at her.

Martin chuckled and shot her a glance.

Marlene ignored him and said, finally looking at Lily, "I just don't think you should be so harsh towards him. He does try you know."

"Really? Well he does an excellent job of showing it." Lily replied sarcastically.

At that moment the compartment door slid open and in walked Sirius Black, accompanied by Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. "Oh, you were just talking about Jamsie, were you?" Sirius instantly guessed. He seated himself down next to Marlene, who barley acknowledged his presence and said "My favourite type of conversation."

"How did you know?" Frank asked curiously.

"Mate, come on, you only have to take one look at her face," he pointed at Lily whose scowl deepened. "To tell that you've all been talking about James."

"Why are you here?" Lily asked. "And why isn't Potter with you?"

"James is trying to be a good boy and leave you all alone."

"So why are you here?" Marlene asked pointedly.

"Well, James can only speak for himself. I'm here for the good company," he nudged Marlene's arm with his elbow, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Martin who frowned.

Sirius continued "Remus because he wants to talk to you, Lily and Peter... actually, I don't know why Peter is here. Pete, why are you here?"

Peter looked at him. "I'm here to make sure you behave and to give Lily James's message."

Even Marlene put down her magazine to stare at him. Lily saw Sirius's eyes widen and Remus kick Peter in the leg.

"What message?" Lily said suspiciously.

Sirius glanced at Remus fleetingly then jumped to his feet. "Oh look at the time Remy, the food trolley will be down our end now, we'd better go. See ya Evans. Bye gorgeous." He threw a wink in Marlene's direction and shoved Peter out of the compartment in front of him.

Remus hurried after them leaving the contents of the compartment in stunned silence.

The first to break it was Alice. She turned to face Marlene, ignoring Tiger who was pawing her to throw more paper. "Why did he just call you gorgeous?"

"Because he's a dickhead." Marlene replied, disappearing behind her magazine again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When the train stopped at Hogsmead Station Sirius, Remus and Peter got out. James was off getting bossed about by Lily whilst bossing everyone else around. The platform was so full of students, owls, cats, luggage, luggage carriers and Hagrid that Sirius couldn't see where James was.

"We'll have to just get in a carriage and meet James up at school." Remus said.

Sirius didn't like that idea but he could see the sense in it. He looked round trying to spot an empty carriage. He saw Alice Prewett and Marlene McKinnon making their way through the crowds. "We could go with them." He suggested.

Remus sighed. "This is to do with your weird thing about Marlene McKinnon, isn't it?"

"No." Sirius said quickly.

Remus looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Come on Sirius. I know you like her. Even her _boyfriend_ can tell."

Sirius scoffed, "no he can't. He is just jealous."

Remus folded his arms. "Oh and why is that?"

"Because he's an arsehole, and I'm not." Sirius said.

Remus chuckled, giving Sirius a knowing look. "Sirius Black has fallen, after all this time."

Sirius whacked him in the stomach and Remus bent over still laughing. "Come on, Remy. It will be a laugh."

"Fine, just make sure you are careful Sirius. Darrow's… well he's not exactly skin and bones is he?"

Sirius shot him a grin. "That's the point. He's all muscle, no brains." He tapped his head. "You could run circles around him and he'd never notice." He started to walk towards the carriage that Alice and Marlene had got into, Remus and Peter following him.

* * *

"Oh hell" Alice said looking out of the horseless carriage.

"What?" Marlene leaned over Martin and Frank to see what Alice was looking at. "Great. Why do they have to come here?"

"Oh, hello all" Sirius said poking his head through the door and looking surprised to see them. "All the other carriages are full."

Marlene sighed and slumped back, exchanging a glance with Alice; she looked reluctant but resigned.

"Fine, get in." Alice said.

"Cheers," Sirius said, jumping in lightly. "James isn't with us so you can tell Lily that you haven't broken any rules."

Marlene could see that he was teasing them and she silently pleaded for nobody to say anything.

"What do you mean?" Martin asked.

Sirius looked at them all in fake astonishment. Marlene had to admit that he was good.

"Doesn't Lily set rules for you all?" He started ticking them off on his fingers. "You can't speak to James, you can't sit next to him in class or while eating, you can't – "

"No," Alice said cutting him off. "Lily's not like that. She would never tell us how to run our own lives."

"Really?" Sirius asked his eyebrows raised.

"Yes really." Alice said firmly.

Sirius turned to Remus. "Make a note of that Remy; 'Lily tells everyone what to do… everyone except her friends.'"

Remus's mouth twitched. Marlene almost laughed but managed not to and Alice frowned but thought better than to say anything.

"So Frank, do you think James and Lily should go out?" Sirius asked him.

Frank thought for a moment then said "I think James needs someone to rein him in and Lily would be perfect for that."

Sirius laughed. "Too true, mate."

Marlene noticed how much Sirius seemed at ease with them, sitting in a completely relaxed manor. She also saw how much he seemed to like Frank, but then, who didn't? He was thoughtful and companionable with gentleness about him.

She knew Sirius on the Quidditch pitch; he was a Beater and, like James, she didn't feel any particularly strong dislike towards him like Lily obviously felt.

The group soon lapsed into silence. Marlene was perfectly comfortable with the silence, just as Alice, Frank and Sirius seemed to be, but the other three twitched and shuffled. Marlene heard her cat, a large furry grey she-cat called Kitten, wailing from inside her cat cage. She let her out and the cat instantly jumped onto the floor of the carriage. Alice, Frank and Martin instantly pulled their feet up and out of the way. Peter saw what they were doing and copied them, eyeing Kitten suspiciously.

"Oh no Marlene, put that monster away, please!"

Alice whispered not taking her eyes from the 'monster'.

Marlene just shook her head stubbornly. "No, she's bored and she needs her exercise."

The cat prowled around for a few moments then to the astonishment of everyone watching jumped up onto the lap of none other than Sirius Black.

Everyone stared as Kitten curled up and started a loud chainsaw-like purr. Marlene frowned in puzzlement, "she _likes_ you..."

Sirius grinned and shrugged. "I like cats." He turned to Remus who was sitting next to him. "Look Remy, isn't she lovely?"

Remus darted a glance at the large grey cat that was curled up on Sirius's lap. Kitten hissed at him. Remus gulped and edged away slightly "I don't really like cats..." he muttered as Marlene mouthed an apology for the rudeness of her cat.

When the carriage slowed to a halt outside the school gates, the seven of them got out; Marlene scooped up Kitten and climbed out after Alice.

"So," Sirius said, jogging to catch up with her. "If your cat hates everybody, why do you call her Kitten?" "Because it's the opposite of what she really is," Marlene said, "which is a psychopathic wildcat."

"She likes you." Sirius pointed out.

Marlene looked at him. "She seems to like you too." She said, somewhat suspiciously.

Sirius shrugged then caught sight of James ahead of him. "I better go," he said. "See you round McKinnon."

"Bye Black." Marlene replied halting to wait for her friends to catch up with her, watching Sirius walk away towards the Marauders with his hands in his pockets.

"What were you and Black talking about?" Lily asked coming to stand beside her.

"Cats," Marlene replied. "Come on; let's just get up to the castle." Lily raised her eyebrows slightly but took the hint and followed Marlene towards the brightly lit school that was shinning like a beacon on the horizon.

* * *

Sirius, James, Remus and Peter made their way into the Great Hall. It was lit by a hundred candles, floating in mid-air above the four long house tables. The enchanted ceiling which looked like the sky outside was spotted with stars and the teachers table was draped in gold. The Hogwarts crest hung behind Dumbledore's chair; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a serpent all united around a large letter 'H'.

Sirius sat down at the Gryffindor table next to James and a fifth year boy called Antony Harkins.

"Since when were you and McKinnon on speaking terms then?" James asked curiously.

"Since I made friends with her cat." Sirius said grinning. "Her psychopathic wildcat."

"I can see what you've got in common then." James said quietly.

None of them paid particular attention to the Sorting as they had all seen many before. When the last first year had sat down at the Ravenclaw table, Dumbledore got to his feet and spread his arms wide. "Welcome, welcome. Another new year at Hogwarts and I have just a few things to say before we begin the feast and they are 'fizzy busy bang.'" And Dumbledore swept his long silver beard over one shoulder and sat down as food materialised onto the golden plates.

"So, Prongs, what are you going to do about tonight then?" Remus asked, helping himself to steak and kidney pie.

James looked blank. "What about tonight?"

"You and Lily have to do a patrol of the school." Remus replied. "What are you going to do?"

"Arm myself with defensive spells and have a shield around me at all times." James said, as coolly as if he was just talking about the weather rather than the fact that he had to go on a walk through the deserted corridors of the school with somebody who probably wouldn't think twice about killing him.

"Really?" Peter asked.

"No, Wormtail..." James sighed.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I don't envy you, Prongs." He said jokingly and they all stared down the table at her. Grabbing the timetable that showed which patrols James was scheduled for, Sirius looked at it. Then he looked at James frowning. "Prongs, it says here that you're doing a patrol with Evans next Wednesday night."

Remus started and grabbed the timetable, looked at it carefully.

"Yeah, so?" James said, shrugging.

Sirius stared at him before saying in a hushed voice, "that Wednesday night is full moon James. You _can't_ miss that."

"Oh crap." James said much too loudly. Remus shifted in his seat and Sirius widened his eyes at his friend. Several people turned to look at them and Nearly Headless Nick, sitting a few seats down from them said in a carrying voice, "what rudeness!"

"You'll have to find a way to get out of it Prongs, I can't keep Mooney back all by myself." Sirius said leaning back again and surveying his best friend carefully.

* * *

"What do you think their saying?" Lily said suspiciously watching the four Marauders deep in a whispered conversation. "Who cares?" Marlene said, helping herself to apple crumple as the dinner disappeared and desert arrived.

"Lily, you really have to stop this obsession with James Potter." Alice said sharply. "It's getting ridiculous."

Lily opened and closed her mouth a few times before she found her voice. "_Obsession_?" she squeaked. "I am _not_ obsessed with James Potter."

Alice turned away. "Then stop talking about him."

Lily struggled with words for a few seconds. She looked towards Marlene, Martin and Frank for support. Marlene and Frank both shrugged and Martin just ate his ice cream and Pavlova.

Marlene looked at him and pulled a face. "What a pig..." she muttered disgustedly.

"Mar, I think it's really time you moved on." Alice whispered.

Marlene raised her eyebrows. "What about you and Franky boy over there?"

Frank looked worried for a moment. Alice shot a smile in his direction. "Some people are just meant for each other."

Frank relaxed and smiled back at her warmly.

Marlene pulled a face. "Please Alice, save the soppy stuff for when you're alone; I'm eating here."

Lily smiled as Alice bashed her shoulder against Marlene's. Marlene scowled and bashed her back.

When all the plates were cleared away, Dumbledore rose to his feet and the chatter died away instantly. Lily looked up at the Headmaster and tried to focus.

"Another school year begins and we have a batch of new students to welcome. Classes will begin tomorrow and there will be no magic being practiced in the corridors between lessons. Our caretaker, Mr Filch has asked me to remind you that there are a bunch of objects that students are banned from using – a list of these objects can be found nailed to Mr Filch's office door. First years should also note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden and a few of the older students should know that by now." He eyed the Marauders. One looked guilty; one looked as if he was barely listening; one tired and one grinned right back up at Dumbledore as if they had both just shared a joke.

Lily turned her attention from the confident face of Sirius Black and frowned. He was surprisingly familiar with the Headmaster. Dumbledore's eyes continued and he continued. "Quidditch tryouts will be held when the captains see fit. If you are interested in trying out for your house team, you may submit your name to your head of house. Please note that first years are not allowed to try out. May I also give a huge congratulations to our new Headboy and Headgirl; James Potter and Lily Evans."

"Why? Just, why?" Lily muttered as the hall burst into applause. The boys sitting all around James were hooting and clapping him on the back.

Not for the first time that day, Lily wished that she'd never met him. Indeed, it wasn't the first time that she'd wished that in the last six years.

"Now now, settle down." Dumbledore said silencing the crowd. "I can see that most of you are thinking about your dormitories so off you all go, shoo shoo!" He waved his hands in a dismissive gesture and the benches scraped back as all the students rose to their feet.

"I'm so tired..." Alice said, yawning as they made their out of the Great Hall and into the large Entrance Hall. They slowly made their way up the stairs and started the long walk up to the Gryffindor Tower. When they got there, Lily climbed through the Portrait hole and sat down in her favourite armchair by the fire. "I'm going to wait here for Potter. Don't wait up for me to come back." Lily said, blinking to stay awake. It was cruel that they should make them go on a patrol the first night back, even crueller that it had to be with Potter.

"Don't worry Lils," Marlene said stifling a large yawn, "I won't wait up for you, not that I could, even if I wanted to..." she turned back just before she climbed the staircase to the girls dormitories. "Oh and when you do come back, try not to make too much noise."

Lily made a face at her playfully as Marlene disappeared up the stairs.

The portrait door opened and in climbed the Marauders. James looked at Lily waiting, slightly impatiently, in the armchair and nodded to himself slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

thanks to every one who has read and reviewed. I'll probably put the next chapter up tomorrow, this one doesn't have so much Blackinnon in it but the next one will do. Thanks again for reading

Molteaser x

* * *

Chapter 3

Lily strode ahead of James, not bothering to see if he was catching up. She just wanted to get this patrol over and done with then she could go to bed.

"Evans!" James called from behind her.

"What Potter?" Lily snapped.

James looked at her for a moment. "I just wanted to apologise." He said quickly.

Lily blinked. "Sorry, _what_ ?"

"I want to apologise," James repeated. "You know, for behaving like I did earlier in the Prefects carriage."

Lily let those words sink in, not quite sure how to respond. This was the last thing she had expected from the ring leader of the Marauders. "Uh... right. Apology accepted." Lily said somewhat suspiciously. "Anything else?"

"Um..." James looked like he was seriously considering something.

_If he asks me out, I swear I will hex him into the next country. _Lily told herself but James just said quickly, "no, there's nothing else."

"Right then, let's just get this patrol over and done with, I'm tired." Lily said, finishing the conversation indefinitely.

* * *

When Lily got back to the common room she walked straight upstairs to her dormitory not speaking to Potter at all.

She changed into her pyjamas and climbed into bed, trying to be as quiet as she could.

"So how was it?" Marlene whispered from the next bed.

"I thought you didn't want to wake up." Lily whispered back.

"Oh never mind that!" Marlene said dismissively. "Which hex did you use on him?"

Lily sighed. "None of them. I didn't curse him."

"What? I thought you were bound to."

"I'm not going to sink to his level Mar, I'm better than that. Anyway, I don't think McGonagall would look very kindly on the Headgirl cursing the Headboy."

"Forget McGonagall, it's the, Marauders I'd look out for." Marlene said out of the darkness. "I mean Remus is nice enough and Black is sometimes a laugh but I really don't think you can trust any of them." "You've changed your tune." Lily accused lightly.

"No I haven't." Marlene instantly defended herself. "I still think that you should ease up with Potter but I don't think that it would be wise to trust them. The way they talk together, it's like they are all in on their own secret."

"You sound like Severus." Lily commented.

Marlene muttered something that sounded a lot like "slimy git."

"Marlene, don't talk like that!" Lily reprimanded her friend.

She whispered.

"Night Mar." Lily whispered back, closing her eyes sleepily. It wasn't long before she was asleep and dreaming peacefully.

* * *

"Hey Evans!" the confident voice of Sirius Black drifted over to their end of the table at dinner. "How did you like patrol with Prongs last night?"

"Never you mind, Black." Lily replied. She had to admit it; with his lose tie, rumpled hair and shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top two buttons undone, he looked like a naughty schoolboy. An extremely good looking one as well.

_Shut up Brain_. Lily told herself crossly. It was bad enough having Potter asking her out at every available opportunity without her stupid mind thinking about his best friend.

Sirius ignored her obvious dismissal of him and sat down next to her. Lily shuffled along the bench to try and put some more space between them.

"So how are you today then Evans?" Sirius asked, pouring himself some pumpkin juice.

"Why would you care Black?" Lily retorted.

"Just trying to be polite." He answered casually.

"Well, I would consider it much more polite if you went and sat somewhere else." Lily snapped.

"Charming," Sirius said. "Manners have never been my strong point but that, Lily Evans was downright rude. Anyway," he continued, his face resuming its normal laid back expression "I only came to ask whether you knew what happened to James last night."

Lily frowned. "How the hell would I know?"

Sirius shrugged. "You saw him last. He didn't come up to the dormitory last night and he wasn't there this morning when we woke up. He's been as quiet as the grave all day. He won't tell us anything." "I don't have the answer to that Black. I suggest that you keep trying with Potter." Lily said, not too kindly. "Mm, I suppose so..." Sirius said popping a grape into his mouth. He spun around on the bench and Lily watched him saunter towards the doors to the Entrance Hall, wondering what was wrong with James but only feeling a morbid curiosity towards it.

"Why does it have to be so soon after term starts? You'd think that Potter would let people settle back into the whole school routine before he uproots it all for Quidditch." Lily said. She was sitting on her bed next to Alice who was yawning and gazing wistfully at her own bed. Marlene slipped on her fingerless gloves and sighed. "There's no point in delaying the tryouts. We need another Beater and a new Chaser. It's better to get them now than wait till they are all booked up with other clubs. And anyway, James lives for Quidditch; he won't rest until he's got a good team together."

"I still don't see why he has to do it on a Saturday morning." Lily grumbled.

Marlene just shook her head and grabbed her broomstick. "Are you two coming or what?" she asked over her shoulder as she made her way towards the door.

Lily and Alice exchanged a look then both of them followed Marlene reluctantly from the girls dormitory and down into the common room.

* * *

Lily had never particularly liked Quidditch; she didn't see the point in it. Sure, she put up with it; her best friend was absolutely crazy about it but Lily knew as she made her way down the grounds towards the pitch, that there were other things that she much rather be doing on this bright Saturday morning. She and Alice watched Marlene join the group in the centre of the field as they made their way up to their favourite seats in the stands to watch.

"Hello," a voice said behind them. "Do you mind if we sit with you?"

Lily turned her head and saw Remus and Peter standing near them.

"Sure," Alice said when Lily didn't answer. "I'm not going to stop you. I'm going to sleep." She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes but Lily knew that sleeping was the last thing Alice had on her incredibly complex mind.

"So are you here to give Black and Potter some moral support?" Lily asked after a while.

"You could say that..." Remus murmured absentmindedly, and then he looked at her and smiled. "And to watch Sirius fail." He added.

Peter snorted at something. He seemed to find what Remus had said funny. Perhaps there was some hidden joke.

Lily smiled but she was only humouring him. She did like Remus; he had been her fellow prefect for two years and unlike James and Sirius, he seemed to be able to tell when they had all gone too far.

* * *

After the tryouts, Lily and Alice were waiting just outside the changing rooms for Marlene. They didn't have to wait long before she emerged. Lily knew immediately that something wasn't right; Marlene usually came back from playing Quidditch in a state of hyperactivity, today however she walked from the changing rooms with a slight frown on her face. She spotted Lily and Alice and hurried towards them.

"Uhh, Lils..." she said when she reached them. Then she took a deep breath and said quickly as if wanting to get it over with in a hurry "Sirius has asked me to tell you that Remus said, because Peter told him that James told _him_ that he wants to speak to you."

Lily frowned and exchanged a baffled look with Alice. Alice shrugged in puzzlement.

"What?" Lily asked.

Marlene sighed heavily. "Sirius has asked me to tell you that Remus said, because Peter –"

"No, no." Lily said quickly holding up her hand before Marlene could confuse her even more. "What was the last bit, the one about Potter?"

"He wants to speak to you." Marlene said. "He's in the changing rooms now, waiting."

Lily let her hand drop to her side. "Why didn't you just tell me that straight away instead of confusing me with the list of Marauders telling each other the same thing?"

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Because Sirius said –"

"Yeah, that's right, let's all blame it on Sirius Black!" Sirius said from behind them. "I was just following orders. As James is Headboy, I had to tell Marlene that Remus said, because Peter told him because James told him that he wants to talk to Lily."

He was still in his Quidditch robes and leaning on his broomstick which was standing straight and not leaning on anything.

Lily dearly wished that she could kick it out from under him just to wipe the smirk off his face.

Sirius must have guessed what she was thinking because his grin got wider and he said "now be a good Headgirl and go and talk to James."

Lily walked up to him and hissed "if Potter asks me out – even if it's just once, then he won't be the only one walking around with a toad head Black."

Sirius looked at her for a moment then burst out laughing. "Sure Evans, do what you want. That will look brilliant for McGonagall."

Lily ground her teeth together in irritation. He was the most unreasonable, antagonising, irritating jerk that had ever set foot on this world, him and Potter that was.

Unable to stand there any longer, she turned on her heel and stalked up to the castle.

"HEY EVANS!" Sirius yelled after her. "WHAT ABOUT TALKING TO JAMES?!"

"IF JAMES POTTER WANTS TO SPEAK TO ME, THEN HE CAN COME AND DO IT HIMSELF!" Lily shouted back at him and without waiting for her two friends she yanked one of the double doors open, walked through it and slammed it shut behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I told you that it will fail..." Remus muttered to Sirius after the great oak doors had slammed behind Lily.

"I knew there was a second meaning to what you said!" Alice said.

Sirius turned to face Remus with a condescending look on his face. "Of course it hasn't failed. The plan is working quite well I think."

"What plan?" Alice and Marlene said. Alice's eyes were narrowed suspiciously and Marlene looked curious but doubtful.

Sirius turned to face them with an almost pitying expression. "The plan that - if successful - will result with Evans and James going out by the end of this year. James has no idea of course."

"Oh come _on_!" Marlene said angrily. "If Lily wanted to go out with him, then she could have done it years ago. James has never done anything to make a good impression on her. Your plan failed before it had even begun!"

"Ouch that stings, McKinnon." Sirius said sarcastically. "This plan is going very well."

"How?" both Remus and Marlene said.

"For starters, Evans now thinks that James has something to tell her. The curiosity of what it is will eat her up until she won't be able to think of anything else. Next he is going to have to talk to her a lot more often from now on, the fact that she doesn't know what it is that he's going to try and tell her will just make her want to find out and the only way she can find out is –"

"Spending more time with James!" Remus said, cottoning on. "Sirius, I must say, that is quite good."

"I know." Sirius said. "I am known to have a stroke of brilliance now and then." He stopped and looked at Marlene who had just made a short, derisive noise.

"What?" He asked her.

She smiled at him. "It's all making sense now Black. This 'plan' hasn't just started, has it? The train journey when you came into our carriage for apparently no reason and Peter here 'let slip'" Marlene mimed quotations on the last two words and continued "that James wanted you to give Lily a message – there was no message, was there?"

Peter looked quite pleased with himself.

Sirius remained nonchalant. "So, what if there wasn't? What are you going to do about it McKinnon?"

Marlene folded her arms across her chest. "I could go and tell Lily all about your little plan?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes and crossed his own arms, mimicking her actions. "Oh, will you? Do it, I'm not scared of Lovely Lily. Just know before you do that; if you're not with us, then you're against us and we aren't doing this just for James, believe it or not but we are doing it for Lily as well."

"How are you in any way doing this for Lily as well?" Marlene asked disbelievingly. "You are just doing this so James can protect his ego, that's all you lot care about."

"Fine, all I care about is James' reputation, happy now?" Sirius snapped. "Is that really what you all think of us?"

"Sometimes it's what you make people believe, and in your case, Sirius Black it _is_ about reputation." Marlene replied.

Sirius' arms dropped to his sides and he shrugged. "Fine then, go and tell Lily and ruin both hers and James' chances of happiness and an end to the fighting, you do want to stop the bickering to stop don't you?"

Marlene hesitated. She exchanged a look with Alice. Both of them did want Lily to stop fighting with James, the whole thing was exasperating to witness. Alice grimaced then nodded.

Marlene turned back to Sirius and sighed. "Fine, tell us what we have to do."

* * *

Lily stormed up to the common room. She was exceedingly pissed off with herself. She should have just faced Potter and heard what he wanted to speak to her about.

_It might have been something important; you should go back there and find out what it was before it stabs you in the back later. _

Merlin, Lily really hated that part of her brain that was always logical. No, she would go up to the common room and look over that piece of charms homework that she'd already checked three times. It was something to take her mind off what was going on at the moment.

Lily sighed as she relaxed into an armchair by the window. The sunlight was streaming through it and it was pleasantly warm and comfortable in the armchair. She found that her eyelids were suddenly feeling very heavy. She closed her eyes and sighed, feeling her homework slip from her fingers and on to her lap. Lily was soon dozing peacefully and oblivious as to who was sitting across the room watching her.

She awoke abruptly and stared around her, for a moment not completely sure where she was. Then she realized that she must have fallen asleep. Then her eyes fell on a most unpleasant sight; James Potter was sitting in the chair next to hers, reading a sheet of parchment. She sat up.

He glanced at her and waved what was her Charms homework at her. "This is actually quite good."

Lily snatched it back and glared. "And you're an expert at Charms now are you?"

"I do pride myself at being quite good at it." He put on a high pitched squeaky voice. "_Potter has always shown a surprising amount of talent at spell casting_."

Lily had to fight not to laugh. James was good at imitating the tiny Professors tones.

James seemed to know what she was thinking and grinned sitting back in his chair. "What about you Lily Evans? I already know a fair bit about you but you can always find out more about a person."

"What do you know about me?" Lily asked before she could stop herself.

"Well, I know that you are allergic to peanuts, that you always tie your right shoelace before your left one, that you love charms and transfiguration but your best at potions. I know that you have an older sister who is soon to be married to a muggle that you're not sure you like but you have to put up with because you still like your sister. I know that you want to be a Healer when you leave school but you're not quite sure whether that's what you want to do for the rest of your life."

Lily sat up straight. "How do you know all that?" she said somewhat suspiciously.

James shrugged as if it was no big deal. "You pick things up now and then."

Lily was pretty sure that he wasn't telling the whole truth but she decided that she would leave it for now.

James seemed to suddenly realize that he might have said too much because he suddenly jumped out of his seat and said "I have to do the potions essay, catch you later Evans," then obviously trying to look casual, he strode across the common room and disappeared up the stairs to the boys dormitory.

Lily remembered, too late, that she had forgotten to ask him what he wanted to tell her. She could go after him but she didn't really want to be seen following James Potter up to the boy's dorms.

No, if it had been really important he would have told her what it was without being asked.

But what if he was testing her to see if she really wanted to find out?

She was just about to get up and go after him when Marlene and Alice walked through the portrait hole, with the rest of the Marauders.

Lily looked at them. Marlene and Alice saw her watching them, exchanged _guilty_ expressions and edged away from Sirius, Remus and Peter.

It was only when Lily caught sight of Sirius grinning triumphantly at Remus that Lily realized something; that was the first proper conversation she had ever had with James Potter that had not ended with them fighting.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks for reading, the next chapter will probably be uploaded either tomorrow or Monday. Please keep the reviews coming in x

_Molteaser x_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"What were you guys doing?" James asked his friends. He had just come down from his dormitory to see where the other Marauders were and caught sight of them exchanging meaningful looks with Alice Prewett and Marlene McKinnon of all people. The two girls were now talking with Lily, Frank and Martin Darrow over in the corner and James looked at them curiously.

"Just talking," Sirius said, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, I'm starving. Lunch is probably over now but I'm sure that the House-Elves could rustle up something tasty if we ask them nicely."

James considered chasing up the subject that Sirius had so obviously dismissed but then decided against it.

The four of them made their way down to the Entrance Hall, through the little door, along a corridor and through the hidden doorway to the kitchens. As soon as they entered they were surrounded by half-a-dozen House-Elves all asking whether they wanted any food in their squeaky voices.

"Would the young masters like some seats?" One asked from somewhere near James' elbow.

"That would be excellent thanks." Sirius said and immediately chairs were pulled up and cushions placed on them. Sirius flopped down on one of them and sighed.

"If only that little rat-bag Kreacher had done service a little more like this lot, I might have stayed at my parents stinking house."

James forced a smile but Remus leaned forward and said seriously, "what happened, Padfoot? What really happened?"

Sirius' grin faded and he picked at his sleeve. "My mother and I had a huge fight after she said some things about muggleborns – and it really was foul. Anyway, my father gave me the option; stay and abide by their rules, or leave... so I packed my bag and left. It was always going to happen; I'm no Regulas."

Remus tightened his lips together and said nothing. James knew that he was having trouble of his own at home. He also knew that Remus didn't like it being mentioned and he wasn't going to push his friend this close to full moon.

Feeling like the atmosphere was turning negative, James decided to try and lighten the mood a bit. "Mum's invited you all to the Christmas Party." He said.

Sirius grinned and bit into a chocolate éclair. "Great, you can invite Evans as well."

"One; it is just a traditional family and friends get together, not a full out ball and two; I do value my life more than that." James joked.

"You used to ask her out all the time." Sirius pointed out. "Are you scared of Lilyflower?"

"Not really and those other times were different." James said when Sirius scoffed. "What makes you think she'd want to go to my parents Christmas Party?"

"People change their minds quite easily." Sirius muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, his eyes narrowing at his friend.

"Nothing." Sirius said briskly. "Let's get back up to the common room; I have a Defence Against the Dark Arts essay that I need to complete by Monday."

James agreed, but he still felt suspicious; he was certain that Sirius was hiding something and he was sure that it had something to do with Lily Evans and maybe her friends. James knew that Sirius had a soft spot for Marlene McKinnon. However, James was happy to wait and see how it all played out.

* * *

"Hey Wormtail – look who it is!" Sirius whispered loudly as Dorcas Meadowes walked past them with a large group of her friends, most of whom cast conspicuous glances at Sirius who ignored them.

Peter blushed crimson and shoved Sirius so that he stumbled into one of the passing girls.

She giggled and he winked and shot his special 'I-know-I'm-a-catch' smile at her, smoothly covering up his blunder.

"So, have you forgotten about McKinnon already Padfoot?" James teased as they made their way up the steps leading from the Entrance Hall to the rest of the castle.

Sirius looked at James, narrowing his eyes. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

James shrugged, "I was under the impression that you rather liked her..."

"What idiot came up with that?" Sirius scoffed.

"Remus told me." James said, grinning triumphantly. "Thanks a lot Mooney..." Sirius growled.

Remus scowled and whacked James on the arm. "Why did you have to drag me into this?"

James laughed and shook his head.

"You have to tell Evans that you can't do Wednesday night." Sirius said, causing the grin to slip from James' face, like water through fingers.

"Do we have to talk about this now?" He groaned.

"Yes!" Sirius said. "You are going to have to tell Lily that-"

But James didn't find out what he should tell Lily because at that moment a voice behind them said "tell me what?"

James closed his eyes and cursed quietly before turning on his heels slowly until he was facing the redhead in front of him.

"Evans!" he said, trying to sound pleased when the truth was that he couldn't be less pleased to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"Potter, this castle doesn't belong to you, I do live here you know." Lily snapped irritably. "Now, _tell me what_?"

James swallowed. Lily's eyes would've been able to burn through iron. It was unfortunate that the daggers she was glaring where aimed directly at him. "Um, well – I was going to say that – about Wednesday night's patrol – I um – well, I can't do it."

Lily's green eyes were narrowed, one eyebrow arched up. "Oh and why is that then?" she said in a dangerously calm tone.

"Well, I urr..." James wracked his brains for a good excuse. He was usually good with this sort of thing but it was hard to think with Lily's eyes burning holes in his skull.

"He has extra – Charms!" Sirius blurted out.

James cringed. Sirius had really put his foot in it this time.

"Extra Charms?" Lily asked, sounding surprised. Then she scowled. "Funny that, last time we spoke Potter, you seemed pretty confident about your '_talent at spellcasting_'"

James shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. "Yeah, well... there's always more to learn!"

"Apparently." Lily shot back, glaring at him.

"What's the holdup?" A voice behind Lily said curiously. Marlene came up and stopped next to Lily when she saw who her friend was talking to. She too, narrowed her eyes at the Marauders but the look she gave them wasn't suspicious; more of a 'what in the name of Merlin is going on here?'  
look then her face blanked and she turned back to her friend. "Lily?" She said calmly, sounding almost as if she was bored. "You're blocking the corridor."

Lily glanced around. There was no one there that James could see but Marlene held Lily's gaze for a split second longer than necessary and Lily seemed to understand something because she turned back to James and said briskly "you'll have to find someone to replace you if that's the case, I'm not doing that." James breathed out and nodded.

"Well Potter, enjoy extra charms." She said, pushing past him and storming up the stairs.

"Thanks a bunch, Padfoot." James said when Lily had gone.

"I had to come up with something. You were just standing there, blundering about and making yourself look like an utter fool!" Sirius said as they turned and began making their way up the stairs again.

"Wait a second."

James cursed under his breath. He'd forgotten about Marlene.

All four Marauders turned round again.

Marlene was standing in the corridor with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. "What exactly in the name of Merlin is going on?"

"James can't do the patrol on Wednesday night because he has extra Charms, are you satisfied?" Sirius said impatiently.

"No I'm not." Marlene said. "You're not a very good liar Sirius, so why bother. Lily failed to remember that the patrol is at midnight – a time I hardly think Flitwick will be even able to teach at, especially with you. Lily will at some point realize that you are not telling her the truth and I personally will be glad not to be in your shoes when she does."

"But really McKinnon, it's none of your business." James replied. "I wouldn't tell Lily if I were you; it might turn around and bite you when you least expect it." He stopped there before he gave too much away. He could feel Remus' eyes burning into the side of his head and decided that he better leave before it turned nasty.

James Potter wouldn't stand for being called a coward but he knew that when it came down to Lily Evans and her friends, he'd rather be safe than sorry.

* * *

Marlene watched the four boys making their way towards the Gryffindor Tower. After a moment she followed them. When she got up to the common room, she spotted Alice and Frank sitting by the window. She walked across the room towards them, weaving in between the comfy chairs and sofas to reach them.

"... And so she says that I can go up to North Tower Tuesday night and use the telescopes." Alice was saying earnestly to Frank. "It will be nearly full moon by that time so the light will be perfect; I won't need a torch or anything!"

Marlene who had been staring at the picture of the Gryffindor lion over the fireplace, snapped out of her reverie. "When did you say full moon was?" She asked Alice.

Alice looked at her surprised. "I didn't, but it's this Wednesday. Why?"

But Marlene didn't answer her. She was staring out of the window where night was falling and the moon was rising like a great glowing orb over the treetops. Almost full.

She looked over at the Marauders sitting by the fireplace and it struck her how pale Remus looked.

"_Mooney_..." she murmured quietly. "Of course..."

Everything suddenly made sense.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks for reading, I'm afraid that I won't be able to upload so frequently this week because I've got exams so... lots of revision and that.

Please keep the reviews coming in x

_Molteaser x_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N** hey, sorry I haven't posted for a week so to make up for that, here's TWO chapters! because you've reviewed very nice things and I'm a nice person ;)

So please review! :))

ps. JadedLights07, just to say that I've corrected the mistake, that was entirely down to my stupid computer, which was on the last chapter, Cheers :)

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter 6

Sirius strolled down the corridor. James, Remus and Peter had gone on ahead; Sirius' bag had split open just as he was leaving the Defence classroom, spilling his books everywhere and smashing his ink bottle. He had had to stay behind to clear it all up.

He had just turned the corner into the charms corridor when someone reached out and grabbed his arm.

"What the hell?!" he yelped and spun around to face his attacker, his hand jumping to his wand in his pocket. He stopped when he saw that it was Marlene. "What do you want McKinnon?" he asked.

"Not here!" She hissed, pulling by the sleeve of his shirt into an empty classroom.

Sirius watched as she locked the door and spun around to face him.

Marlene was very pretty, Sirius thought as he crossed his arms and surveyed her from across the room. When nobody spoke, he raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to tell me why you've just dragged me into an empty classroom and locked the door or shall I guess?"

Marlene copied his actions; crossing her arms and eyeing him for a moment before she said "I need information Black, and you can give it to me."

Sirius smirked and unfolded his arms, pulling over a chair, sitting down in it and putting his feet up on the table. "What makes you think that I'll be that generous?"

"I don't need you to be generous because there are plenty of other ways to get this information; this is just the – uh – _least dangerous_ way." Marlene replied. That caught Sirius' attention. He looked at her for a moment then said warily "what do you want to know?"

"Is Remus a werewolf?"

The question was asked so bluntly that Sirius almost fell off his seat in shock. "No!" he said and the moment the words left him out he knew that it was too late. She already knew and this had just been about to see what his reaction was. Merlin she was good.

Marlene smiled. "I told you before Black; you're a rubbish liar."

"I'm honestly not." Sirius replied. "Apparently I'm only a bad liar when I'm talking to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing," he said, not looking at her. "Anyway, what makes you think you know everything about this... subject?"

"Oh please! He looks as if he should be in the hospital wing right now, he always used to miss out on Prefect duties whenever the moon was full, he missed those three lessons we did on werewolves in Defence last week, the fact that you all call him _Moony _– do I need to go on?" Marlene said, then her expression softened and she said more quietly "I won't tell anyone you know. You can trust me on this, Remus is my friend and I know that he wouldn't harm anyone intentionally."

Sirius stared at her for a moment. "You noticed all of that before Evans did?" he said eventually.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Your faith in my intellect is really quite flattering." Then she shook her head. "Lily probably would have worked it out by now if it hadn't been for Snape –"

"Snivellus?" Sirius scoffed disbelievingly.

"Yes, well, he always used to say that there was something wrong with Remus but Lily always just thought it was because he was jealous of James and Remus was friends with James. Anyway, by the time she thought that she had started to notice it; she didn't want to admit Snape was right so she ignored it. But that's not what I want to know."

"Oh?" Sirius said, raising his eyebrows at her.

Marlene leaned forward on the desk. "Why is James skiving patrol Wednesday night when there's no need to?"

Sirius bit the inside of his cheek. "Maybe you should ask him that, and as for Remus? If he's a werewolf, let him tell you himself." He got up and strode to the door, unlocking it with his wand and pulling it open. It wasn't until he was in the corridor and had turned a corner that Sirius started running.

* * *

Sirius didn't stop until he reached the common room. He gasped the password to the Fat Lady and stumbled through the portrait hole. "Remus!" he spluttered, reaching out and grabbing his friend's arm and yanking him out of his seat

"Remus yelped looking back over his shoulder at James and Peter. They got up and followed Sirius quickly.

"Sirius mate, what's going on?" James said, jogging to keep up as Sirius rounded a corner and looked along the corridor briefly checking to see if Marlene was coming back that way, and then pushing Remus in front of him into an empty classroom.

"We need to talk." Sirius said closing the door behind him with a snap.

"What's up?" James said, crossing his arms and frowning.

"McKinnon knows. I don't know how but she knows."

There was a few seconds of silence then Peter said slowly "knows what?"

"About you Remus!" Sirius said, slightly too loud. He lowered his voice and explained. "From what I could tell, she'd worked it out. She practically attacked me on my way back from Defence – come to think of it, it was probably her who split my bag in the first place."

"But, why did she want to talk to you?" Remus said slowly. He looked very pale and a little bit sick.

"She wanted to find out why James was trying to get out of patrol."

"Do you think Lily asked her to do it? Do you think she knows about Remus as well?" James asked anxiously.

Sirius took his time in answering. "I don't think so." He said finally as Remus shook his head and buried his face in his hands.

Sirius gritted his teeth and said what he had been wanting to say for the last few minutes. "I think we should tell her the truth."

"What?" James said incredulously. "Are you joking?"

"No, I'm not. Marlene knows about Remus already and it won't be long before she starts to try and find out why you are making stupid excuses to get off patrol. She's not stupid; sooner or later she will realise that the rest of us are deeper into this than we should. We should tell her the truth before she finds out herself without hearing the full story from us. If anyone found out by accident, what do you think they would do? They would go and tell McGonagall or do something just as stupid. If Marlene found out by accident, she might mistake it for something else, she might even tell Lily. But if we show her, explain to her why we do it, there's more chance of her understanding."

James bit his lip uncertainly. "Pete? What do you think?"

Peter raised his hand in the air and said "I agree with Sirius," as calmly as if he was merely commenting on Sirius' latest choice of 'cupboard friend' as James liked to call them.

"Remus?" James said, turning to his other friend.

"I think..." Remus licked his lips nervously then continued. "I think Sirius is right. If we don't tell her the truth then it could easily lead to complications with Lily later on. I think it would be safer to tell her everything. We want to avoid the former above everything else, right?"

"Fine, we'll tell McKinnon. But we should talk to her first – find out how much she actually knows."

* * *

Marlene was almost at the common room when she heard voices. Voices that specifically belonged to Remus and James.

"... Can't have gone far. C'mon Prongs, she's got to be somewhere."

"I'm looking, I'm looking. This castle is just too bloody large." James said irritably.

"Why are we even looking on the map?" Came Sirius' voice. He sounded apprehensive. "Have you checked the common room?"

"Yes, I have and I don't know about you but I can't see a dot labelled 'Marlene McKinnon' there can you?"

"Shit!" Marlene swore under her breath, halting in mid-step. Sirius must have gone straight to the rest of the Marauders and told them about their little 'chat', and now they were all out looking for her.

She should have known not to go to Sirius; he was too loyal. Usually she liked that in boys but right now was an exception. _And not like he's that loyal. _A little voice whispered in her ear. _Remember that Sirius Black doesn't date and he's one of the biggest heart-breakers in the history of this school._ No, now was not the time to be thinking about that. Marlene spun around but instead of legging it towards the safety of her dormitory, she ran straight into the one person she did not want to see.

She looked up to see grey eyes staring back at her quizzically.

McKinnon, just who we happened to be looking for." James said from behind Sirius. he held open the door of yet another empty classroom. If you could step this way..."

* * *

**A/N** DON'T GO ANYWHERE! Another chapter is right on it's way...

_Molteaser x_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N **Just to say, that this is a second chapter in one night, **READ THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE** thanks :))

* * *

Chapter Seven

"How much do you actually know?" James asked once the door was closed.

Marlene stared at him in disbelief. "I know enough." She looked around to where Remus was sitting on the desk, staring at his feet. "Remus, I can promise you, your secret is safe with me. I won't tell a soul."

"Not even Lily?" James questioned as Remus looked up and smiled gratefully at Marlene.

"Especially not Lily." Marlene replied. "It's Remus' secret, not mine. He is the one who should tell people and I'm sorry that I found out by myself."

"It's not your fault, we should have been more careful." Remus admitted.

"Marlene," Sirius said from where he was leaning against a table. "There's something else you should know."

Marlene frowned "what?"

"Well..." Sirius exchanged a look with James.

"Maybe it would be better if we were to show her?" James suggested quietly.

Sirius nodded then turned to Marlene. "Don't freak out." He told her. He frowned as if concentrating for a second then suddenly, he was no longer standing in front of her. Instead there was a large, shaggy black dog padding about where Sirius had been seconds before.

"Padfoot..." Marlene breathed, realising for the first time that Remus couldn't be the only one with a nickname. She spun around to face James who was sitting on the desk looking at her with an apprehensive expression on his face.

"Are you Animagus too?" Marlene asked.

"Of course." James replied once he was sure that Marlene wasn't going to run screaming from the room.

"Well..." Marlene asked, looking almost as if Christmas had come early. "What are you?"

James smiled for the first time that night. "A stag."

"Peter?" Marlene asked turning towards the smaller boy but finding that where Peter had been sitting, there was now a grey and black stripped rat staring back at her.

Marlene shook her head in disbelief. "This is such advanced magic. When did you learn to become Animagi?"

"It took us until Fifth year." Sirius said. He had turned back into his human form and was eyeing her with an expression which Marlene couldn't decipher.

She gaped. "Fifth year?"

"I did say that I had a 'surprising talent' for Charms - obviously I'm not as good as Lily." James said shaking his head. "It wasn't my fault you all didn't believe me."

"You did tell us that you had extra charms." Marlene pointed out.

"That," James said glaring across the room, "was Sirius."

Marlene laughed at the expression on the face of the guilty. "I understand now." She said more seriously. "You use your Animagi forms on every full moon don't you?"

She directed this mostly at Remus.

He looked away then said slowly. "I didn't want them to do it. It's not safe, I know. They did it anyway and it's so much easier when their with me. It's like I embrace the animal part of me instead of the human, because that's what makes me so vicious on full moons; the human side." He looked at her, pleading with his eyes for her to understand, "I don't want to hurt anyone but I... I can even be almost happy on full moons."

"There's a entrance through the Whomping Willow. You have to press the knot at the base then you can get inside." Peter said excitedly.

Marlene smiled at him.

Sirius scowled at him. "You can't go telling her everything Peter." He scolded.

"Do you think I'm untrustworthy Padfoot?" Marlene asked sweetly.

Sirius shot her his winning smile. "Obviously not."

"Sirius, stop it." James said, covering his eyes. "Please."

Sirius laughed and shook his head at his friend.

* * *

Marlene kept her word to the Marauders, something that she had never thought that she would ever do but she knew why Remus didn't want people knowing about him. If it was her, she wouldn't even want to particularly tell even her closest friends in case they decided not to be friends with her but the more time she was spending with them, the more she realised how close they were - like brothers almost and the fact that the rest of them decided to put themselves in considerable danger by learning to become Animagus so they could spend full moons with Remus said a lot about their friendship. In some ways, Marlene decided that she respected their loyalty to each other because there was no doubt about it; the Marauders were the closest group of friends that she knew. There was one thing troubling her though, James and Sirius seemed unconcerned about the danger they were putting themselves in. Marlene lay awake that night, listening to the breathing of the three other girls in the dorm and wondered for how long she would be able to keep a secret like this from her own friends, and what would Lily do when she found out that Marlene had been lying to her this whole time.

* * *

"I hope we did the right thing." James muttered as the four boys made their way up to their dormitory.

"I think we did." Remus said seriously. "Marlene is a nice girl - aside from the fact that she's broken just as many hearts as Sirius has." He added with more humour.

Sirius didn't laugh, in fact, he didn't even smile; he just mumbled something that sounded a lot like "shut up."

"Did he touch a raw nerve there Padfoot?" James teased, grinning at his best friend mockingly. "And was it just me or was there a trace of flirting going on back there with the much loved McKinnon?"

This time Sirius laughed and shoved James so he bashed into the doorframe of the boys dormitory.

"I saw it too!" Remus exclaimed. "Well, I guess we shouldn't really be surprised; Sirius takes it upon himself to flirt with any pretty girl he can see."

"Shut it Mooney!" Sirius growled.

Remus and James both smirked at each other and Peter laughed.

* * *

Lying in bed that night, James felt a sort of what could only be slight jealousy. He had wanted the first person outside of the Marauders and his family to know that he was Animagus to be Lily not her best friend, but he supposed it was never meant to be. He shook his head to get rid of the obscene feelings in his mind and with a slight sadness that seemed to weigh heavily on his chest, James tuned over and tried to go to sleep.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this bonus chapter (well, not really a bonus chapter but... yeah, whatever)

Please keep the reviews coming in, they are much appreciated :))

_Molteaser x_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N** This is a short chapter but it's not a filler chapter as it has some important keys because it sets off a chain of 'certain events' that I have been dying to write ever since I decided to make this a Blackinnon fanfic, which believe it or not it wasn't originally going to be. Anyway, just read it and see.

_Molteaser_ x

* * *

Chapter Eight

"What is wrong with you today Marlene?" Lily asked curiously.

Her friend had been behaving very strangely ever since they'd gotten up this morning, casting anxious looks over her shoulder and either jumping or snapping angrily whenever mentioned the Marauders.

In fact, Martin had got the shock of his life when he had insulted Sirius Black at lunchtime, he and Marlene still weren't on speaking terms with each other.

Lily had never before heard Marlene defend Sirius Black in the whole time that they had been friends, it was unheard of and it made Lily suspicious.

"Nothing Lils." Marlene said, frowning and chewing the tip of her quill as she concentrated on a piece of Astronomy homework, her long caramel coloured hair hiding her face.

"Mm..." Lily muttered, not believing her for a second. "Well, I need to go to the library to return a book, are you coming?"

Alice said that she would but Marlene declined, saying that she wanted to finish her essay.

Lily and Alice both looked at her for a second then looked at each other. Alice raised one thin, dark eyebrow before they both shrugged and walked out of the common room, passing Frank and Martin who were making their way in.

"Do you think we should stay?" Alice asked anxiously. "Marls has been on edge all day and Martin hasn't exactly been in her good books, has he?"

"Nah, we won't be that long and Frank can look after them." Lily said dismissively.

Lily and Alice wouldn't have been that long if it hadn't been for Peeves, who had booby trapped the fourth floor corridor with enchanted water balloons and he was terrorising anyone who happened to pass by.

Luckily, Lily and Alice had been forewarned by a hysterical Zoey Thompson, a Gryffindor sixth year and Chaser on the Quidditch team who was escorting a group of soaking wet friends back to the common room. Zoey herself seemed to be the only one to have escaped the water bombs and she was positively howling with laughter.

Lily and Alice took a fifteen minute detour to avoid Peeves and due to that, and the fact that Alice had to practically force Lily not to go down that corridor and try and get Peeves to stop - Peeves never listened to anyone except Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore and even then, he did it reluctantly - Lily and Alice arrived at the common room, later than they had expected.

* * *

When they reached the common room, the portrait hole opened before they had had the chance to speak the password and Frank burst out, a slightly frantic look in his eyes.

When he saw the two girls he breathed out a great breath of relief. "Oh - Al, Lily - thank Merlin your here! Marlene and Martin - they've had a fight - Marlene's dumped him. You need to come quickly!"

Lily and Alice looked at each other with almost identical looks of shock on their faces. Of all the things that they suspected Marlene capable of doing when she was in a mood like this, that was one of the last. She was unpredictable at the best of times - stubborn about her decisions and reckless at the worst.

Marlene wasn't in the common room when they climbed through the portrait hole. There were however, a few other people including the Marauders hanging around, muttering to themselves. Martin was nowhere to be seen either and when the portrait door swung shut behind Lily and Alice, everyone stopped talking.

Lily caught sight of the Marauders. James and Sirius were looking like they were about to start crying with laughter, Remus was hiding behind his book as his shoulders shook and Peter rushed past them in a hurry to try and get to the toilets.

"Frank, why are they behaving like that?" Lily asked, narrowing her eyes at the group in the corner.

"I probably don't know but Marlene managed to show Martin up a bit before she actually dumped him." Frank said as James slumped forward in his chair, howling with mirth.

"What was the fight about this time?" Alice questioned, trying not to look at the Marauders whose laughter seemed to be distracting her.

"Not completely sure..." Frank said. "From what I gathered; Martin saw Marlene coming out of an empty classroom yesterday with another guy, I don't know who but Martin accused Marlene of cheating - "

"Oh no, he didn't!" Alice interrupted, pulling a face. "He obviously doesn't remember what happened to Max McGregor then?"

"Apparently not..." Frank sighed.

"We should go and see if she's okay, Al." Lily said, shooting one last glare at the Marauders corner, where the laughter had just begun to die down.

* * *

Marlene was lying on her bed, reading a book. She didn't look up when Lily and Alice walked in.

When they sat down on the bottom of the bed however, Marlene folded the corner of the page down, closed the book gently and rolled on to her back looking at her friends casually.

"Marlene..." Lily said slowly, breaking the silence. She wasn't intending to say anything else, she just wanted and explanation.

"Yes?" Marlene asked in a perfectly controlled voice.

When Lily didn't reply Marlene sighed and picked at the needle thread in the duvet. "If you want a blow by blow detailed account of what happened down there then you're going to have to go and ask someone else."

"I wasn't going to ask you..." Lily mumbled, knowing full well that Marlene knew her too well to actually believe that.

"Yeah, you were." Marlene told her.

"You can't exactly blame us for being curious." Alice said crossing her legs and looking at Marlene with what might have been approval. "I must say Marls, from what I've seen down there, you gave quite a show."

Marlene grinned and gave a mock salute. "Here to amuse."

"I just want to know one thing." Lily said determined to get an answer.

"What?" Marlene asked slowly.

"Did you cheat?"

Marlene scoffed. "No, but I might of just to have an excuse to dump that little piece of - "

"Okay, okay, I get it; you didn't cheat now please before you go off on one - "

Go off on one?" Marlene growled playfully, throwing her pillow at Lily who gasped. "What about you and your little Potter rants that you are so fond of having?"

Lily threw the pillow back at her and soon the room was full of shrieks of laughter and the air was full of drifting feathers.

**A/N **Thanks once again for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the drama. Please review, thanks :))

_Molteaser x_


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N** I had a laugh writing this chapter. It doesn't have much James and no Lily but I promise that the next one is full of them.

Please Review, thanks.

_Molteaser_ x

* * *

Chapter 9

The common room was completely silent; the only noises were the crackle of the fire and the wind outside, rattling the window panes. The moon was full and the light of it was shining through the window and illuminating the parts of the room that were no hidden by shadows or warmed by the golden glow of the fire.

Marlene sat in on of the armchairs, eyes closed and sleeping peacefully, her wavy hair pulled over one shoulder and her skin turned almost bronze in the light from the flames.

She hadn't intended to wait up for when James, Sirius and Peter arrived back from their midnight running with their werewolf friend but here she was although asleep.

The portrait door swung open half an hour later and James, Sirius and Peter crept in under the Invisibility Cloak.

"Ouch, Wormtail, that was my foot!" Sirius hissed as a sharp pain suddenly shot up his leg.

"Sorry!" Peter said hurriedly. "It's hard to see where to put your feet when their invisible!"

"That's sort of the point, Wormtail..." James sighed.

"Yeah," came Peter's voice rising slightly as he jumped to defend himself. "I'm just saying that Sirius should –"

"Pete, shut it!" Sirius hissed suddenly, stopping so abruptly that James and Peter didn't realise and just kept walking, taking the cloak with them.

Sirius snatched a handful of the cloak in his fist to try and stop it coming all the way off him and pulled it back, this caused Peter, who was holding onto his end tightly to stumble and in doing so, pull the rest of the cloak off both Sirius and James, trip over a chair and send it – along with himself, crashing to the floor.

Sirius froze and closed his eyes briefly then opened his eyes, glancing at the sleeping Marlene in the armchair. Marlene turned her head and mumbled something, then she resumed the deep, steady breathing of someone who is lost in the depths of sleep.

James stared at Sirius and breathed out in relief.

Not that it would be bad if Marlene caught them as she was aware of the circumstances in which they were out but she hadn't quite forgiven them for laughing when she had been arguing with Martin Darrow.

To be perfectly fair, they hadn't actually been laughing at her or her ex-boyfriend; Sirius had explained that it had been _him_ who Martin had seem coming out of that empty classroom just before Marlene right after she had dragged him in there to ask him about Remus's condition.

They had decided not to interrupt as Marlene hadn't denied it, obviously taking a chance to dump Martin which, according to Frank, she had been waiting for the opportunity to do for a while.

When Sirius had told them that it had been him, the compromising look of slight guilt and the fact that he had also been smirking in true Sirius fashion had completely cracked James up and he had laughed until he had cried.

As a result of this however, Marlene was now giving the lot of them the cold shoulder again, even more than she'd used to.

James would rather just go up to his bed at the moment.

"Sirius, let's go, before she wakes up." James hissed to his best friend.

Peter was just getting up from where he had been wrestling with the cloak on the ground. He was slightly breathless.

"What?" Sirius said, looking away from Marlene.

"Oh never mind, your obviously too busy staring at McKinnon to listen. Let's just go now." James whispered, rolling his eyes.

"I wasn't staring at her!" Sirius exclaimed quietly as they made their way back towards the boys dormitory.

"Course you were, you looked like a lovesick puppy Pads!" James teased.

"What? So like you look when you're gazing at 'darling Lilyflower'?" Sirius retorted. "You forget Prongs that I don't –"

"Date, yeah I know." James finished for him. "You just almost seduce girls into broom cupboards then leave them after you've had a nice cosy make-out session with them. How very honourable of you Padfoot."

Sirius just shrugged. "You used to do it as well."

"Yes, but that was before –" James broke off.

"Before Evans found you with Emmeline Vance in the closet on the second floor and told you that you were being a womanizing prick?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah – well – but – well – _that's not the point_!" James spluttered protesting.

"Whatever Prongs." Sirius laughed quietly so as not to wake Frank and Martin. He closed the door and there was silence for a while as they got changed but before James dropped off, he heard Sirius say, "and I wasn't staring at McKinnon, I was admiring cause you have to admit Prongs, that girl has an excellent body."

But James didn't reply because sleep finally washed over him before he knew it, he was snoring peacefully.

* * *

Marlene woke up when the light from the morning hit her face. She groaned and turned her face the other way.

"Hey McKinnon."

Marlene's eyes snapped open. Sitting in front of her were Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"What time is it?" Marlene mumbled, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the traces of sleep in them.

"Ten thirty in the morning." Sirius replied carelessly.

"What?!" Marlene yelled, jerking out of her seat.

"Chill out McKinnon, I'm joking. It's only seven fifteen." Sirius laughed.

"Oh, very funny Black." Marlene scowled, running a hand through her abnormally tousled hair and relaxing back into her seat.

"Anyway, we need to talk to you." Sirius said with a determined tone of voice.

Marlene's eyes narrowed but she stayed where she was and raised her eyebrows. "Yes?"

Now sure that she wasn't going to get up and leave, Sirius leaned back and rested his elbows on the arms of his chair, pressing the tips of his finger tips together and surveying them all. "We need to activate part two of the plan."

"Why?" Peter asked, frowning.

"Because Evans seems to have forgotten that James has something to tell her, Wormtail." Sirius said slightly impatiently.

"Oh," Peter said, realising where the conversation was going. "So what's the second part?"

"We are going to lock them in a broom cupboard together!" Sirius said triumphantly.

There was a moment of stunned silence them Marlene said "are you joking? They'll kill each other!"

"I don't think they will..." Remus said quietly from where he was sitting. "James and Lily can only do so much to hurt each other without wands."

"How can you say that, Remus? You know that James won't lay a finger on Lily, but Lily? She'll either break his heart, spirit or neck." Marlene said sitting up straight in her chair and looking around at all the Marauders who didn't seem to be able to realise that this was a really bad idea.

Sirius shrugged, unfazed. "We'll be supervising and we can always break in if we see that things are going – uh – in a way that could lead to serious injury."

"How are you going to supervise without being in the room with them?" Marlene asked.

Sirius shot her a wicked grin. "With these." He flourished two objects at her. "You forget who we are, McKinnon."

Marlene blinked. The two things that Sirius was waving victoriously in front of her face were a round mirror and an old piece of worn parchment.

"What are they?" Marlene asked raising an eyebrow unimpressed.

"These, my dear McKinnon, are the keys to our success." Sirius said proudly.

"How are a mirror and an old bit of parchment keys to success?" Marlene scoffed disbelievingly.

Sirius smiled the smile that most people had come to link to the troublemaking Sirius Black. It was one that set most girls' hearts beating faster and caused the teachers to be on their guard. "Watch and learn." He said, lifting the mirror to eye level and saying James's name very clearly into it.

When he spun the mirror round to face Marlene, she didn't see her reflection in it. Instead, she saw the image of the inside of a small room, stocked with buckets, mops and brooms.

"What the hell?!" Marlene said. "How did – what _is_ that?"

"It's a two way mirror." Remus explained. "James and Sirius both have the opposite ones and they use them to talk if they're ever in separate detentions. Peter installed James's last night."

Peter looked extremely pleased with himself at this.

Marlene was impressed. There was obviously more to these Marauders than what meets the eye. "Right and what's that one?" she gestured to the parchment.

"Moony, do the honours, if you please." Sirius said, holding out the parchment to Remus who took out his wand and tapped it lightly and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Where the tip of the wand touched the paper, shapes started to appear, spiralling and swirling outwards until they formed the words:

'**Messrs Moony, Wormtail,**

**Padfoot and Prongs,**

**Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers,**

**Are proud to present**

**THE MARAUDER'S MAP**'

Sirius offered it to Marlene who took it hesitantly. She opened it and gasped. Inside was a map showing every part of Hogwarts castle and grounds. Marlene looked closer and saw that there were loads of tiny dots moving around the floors and they were labelled in tiny writing, each one with a name.

She looked for the Gryffindor tower and found her own name printed on the yellowed page.

"You lot never cease to amaze..." Marlene murmured, running her fingers over the paper.

Sirius smiled. It was one of the most genuine smiles she had ever seen on his abnormally handsome face.

She felt something swoop in the pit of her stomach as their eyes made contact, almost like she had gone over a speed bump in a fast car.

Marlene realised quickly that she had been staring and looked away hurriedly.

"We need you to get Lily into the broom cupboard, without her wand." Remus said, breaking the silence.

Marlene nodded. "When is this going to be put into action?"

Remus and Sirius looked at each other. "This Saturday morning, after Quidditch practice." Sirius said, the apprehensive look was back in his eyes again, almost as if he wasn't sure whether she would rise to the challenge.

He should know her better than to think that. Marlene was a Gryffindor and proud of it, let no one say that she backed out of things.

She nodded. "Okay, I'll do it."

* * *

**A/N **Thanks once again for reading, I have a favour to ask; what animal do you think Marlene's Patronus should be: a lioness, a tiger or a wild cat. I want it to be some sort of cat, please review what you think or PM me and if anyone has any other ideas, they are welcome as well, cheers.

_Molteaser x_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N** A nice long chapter for you lovely people. thanks for the help with what animal Marlene's Patronus should be, I needed a second opinion on that. If you have any questions or ideas please PM me or review thanks. :)) I hope you enjoy the Jily in this one, it took ages to write :)

_Molteaser_ x

* * *

Chapter 10

For the next two days, Marlene pondered over how she was going to get Lily to go into a broom cupboard with James Potter. The task seemed almost impossible but Marlene was determined not to let it get the better of her.

On Saturday morning, Marlene made her way down to the Quidditch pitch with Zoey Thompson, her fellow Chaser. Zoey was chatting away cheerfully and in high spirits, not seeming to realise that Marlene's thoughts were elsewhere.

The rest of the Gryffindor team were already there when they arrived. Marlene and Zoey went to sit down with their new fellow Chaser; a fifth year boy called Dan Seabolt. Zoey and Dan immersed themselves in conversation but Marlene's eyes roamed around the room.

Sirius and James were chatting in the corner, James was looking nervous and Sirius relaxed. He was leaning against the wall, swinging his beaters bat carelessly. He caught her eye and winked. Marlene shot him a look and turned away.

Martin Darrow and the new Beater, Mike Anderson, a sturdy looking fourth year with very bright blue eyes were talking. Martin looked like he was giving the younger boy instructions. Martin looked up in time to see Marlene looking at him and he glared. Marlene smirked and ignored him completely.

"Right team," James said, standing up and addressing everyone in front of him. "This is a big year for us. We want our name on that cup again and I know that we have what it takes to go out there and kick the other teams in the balls!"

Sirius, who was lounging on the bench next to James, smirked at James's choice of language.

"The first team we're playing is Ravenclaw and all we have to do is go and give them a game they'll never forget!" James said, ignoring Sirius and smacking his fist into the palm of his other hand to emphasise this statement.

"Don't worry Prongs," Sirius said, sobering up and looking at his friend with a serious expression on his face. "We've got this."

It was one of the few times that Marlene had ever seen Sirius and James completely humourless; when Quidditch was involved.

The rest of the team murmured their agreement and traipsed out onto the pitch.

The training session hadn't been as successful as James might have wanted. Things were strained between Marlene and Martin and Sirius was just making it worse.

There had been one case where Marlene had grabbed the Quaffle and had been speeding towards the goal. Martin had come out to meet her but instead of flying around him and throwing the red ball through one of the hoops, Marlene had, on purposely, thrown the Quaffle right at Martin's face very hard. Martin had caught it – proving why he was such an excellent Keeper – but the force of the throw had knocked him backwards so he had nearly fallen off his broom.

Sirius had not helped the situation by laughing but while nearly everyone else had laughed as well, Martin had decided to lob the Quaffle at Sirius's head.

Sirius had ducked just in time but his face was set in a stony glare after that.

It was a good thing, James supposed, that Martin was very broad shouldered and strong and that Sirius had a Beaters Bat at hand, otherwise James was willing to bet that they would have started fighting.

As it was, by the end of training, when James blew his whistle and called that the session was over, Sirius, Marlene and Martin were all shooting looks at each other – two of the said, sending hostile glares towards Martin who in turn would shoot daggers back at the pair of them.

He also noticed that Sirius and Marlene kept glancing at each other but only when the other person wasn't looking.

James smiled to himself as he watched his friend's scowl become something completely different as his eyes set on the blonde Chaser. It had been a long time since Sirius had looked at someone like that.

After training was over, James followed Sirius into the Entrance Hall. He was eager to get some lunch as he was starving.

Before they were even halfway across the hall however, Remus and Peter came hurrying out of the Great Hall.

"James, Lily says that she wants to speak to you, right now." Remus said seriously.

"Why?" James asked, a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

Remus shrugged. "She didn't say. All she said was that she wants you to meet her in the broom cupboard on the fifth floor in ten minutes."

James looked at Sirius who looked just as confused as James felt. "Maybe Peeves has stolen Filch's special mop or something."

James snorted then sighed. "Fine, we'll skip lunch. I wonder what she wants..."

"I wonder..." Sirius said with the perfect picture of puzzlement on his face.

* * *

"Hey Lils," Marlene said as she entered the common room and spotted Lily sitting at a table, bent over a letter. In a split second, Marlene registered that Lily's bag was lying on top of the back of an armchair.

"Oh, hey Marls. Did you have a good training session?" Lily said, not looking up from her letter.

"Not really, it was crap. Martin was being a right dickhead." Marlene said, cautiously reaching into Lily's bag and feeling around. Finally, her fingers touched a wand handle. She drew it out carefully and hid it up her sleeve.

"That's a same..." Lily muttered, completely occupied by her writing.

"Yeah, and I – uh, saw McGonagall on the way up." Marlene continued.

At the mention of McGonagall, Lily looked up.

"She said to tell you to come to the Broom cupboard on the fifth floor straight away."

"Did she say why?" Lily asked, putting her quill down.

"I think Peeves has taken all of Filch's brooms out and hidden the around school. Filch is determined that you all go to the scene of the crime to investigate." Marlene said, casually.

"When were you going to tell me this?" Lily asked, springing to her feet and grabbing her bag.

Marlene pulled a face and shrugged. "I've just told you!"

Lily just sighed, rolled her eyes once then hurried out of the common room.

Marlene allowed herself to grin once then pulled a straight face and followed her friend.

* * *

"What did I tell you Pads?" James asked gleefully as the four boys made their way up to the fifth floor. "Didn't I say that Evans would fall for me eventually?"

"I believe you did Prongs." Sirius mused, trying to keep his face straight. He shot a look towards Peter who walking close behind James.

Peter tripped and crashed into James, sending them both sprawling on the floor.

Peter tried to get up but lost his balance and fell over again, this time James managed to keep him upright.

Sirius and Remus fell about laughing and James scowled at all three of them and looked around to see if anyone had seen that little display, nobody had.

When they reached the broom cupboard, James peered inside. "She's not here." He said a slight trace of disappointment in his voice.

"She must be late." Sirius said immediately. "Girls take ages to get ready for stuff like this."

James nodded, reassured. "Right then, I'll just wait inside."

Right after James had disappeared into the cupboard; Lily came tearing around the corner, red hair flying, a wild look in her eyes. Marlene was racing after her, still dressed in her Quidditch gear, her face flushed and alight with excitement.

"Where's McGonagall?" Lily demanded.

Sirius and Remus instantly pointed fingers at the broom cupboard whose door was still half open.

Peter, who had been slow on the uptake, saw what his friends were doing and pointed at the cupboard as well.

Lily's face set determinedly and she strode to the closet, pulled the door wide and hurried in.

Sirius and Marlene exchanged a look then both of them moved forward quickly and slammed the door closed, locking the Headboy and girl in together.

Marlene looked at Sirius leaning against the door next to her and she bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Sirius grinned back triumphantly. "Gotcha!"

"You make it seem so easy!" Marlene laughed. "You lot do this sort of thing all the time – this is a first for me."

"Marlene McKinnon, you have missed out on a great part of life," Sirius said. "You wanna get locked in a broom cupboard with me next time?" He threw in for effect adding a cheeky wink to top it off.

"Will you give the flirting a rest Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, rolling his eyes up towards the ceiling as Marlene smirked back at Sirius.

"Why, Moony? You don't want to go out with me anymore?" Sirius asked pulling an injured expression and turning to face his friend with his bottom lip protruding.

Remus snorted disbelievingly. "Wow Pads, after all we've been through, I thought I knew you properly but I never would have dreamt that you would come out as homosexual this way!"

Marlene laughed. "Sirius Black? Gay? Yeah, and Dumbledore isn't a wizard!"

"He sure as hell _is_ a wizard!" Sirius said, dropping the wounded expression and reassuming his charming smile. "Why, are you interested McKinnon?"

"Shove off Black!" Marlene retorted but she couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth as she said it.

* * *

Lily heard the door slam and whirled around. She realised almost instantly that she was trapped.

"Lily?" a voice said from the other end of the small room.

Lily turned around again and came face to face with the one person she did not want to see.

"Potter, what in Merlin's name is going on?" Lily snapped, pushing against the door with all her strength but to no avail.

"I don't know!" James said getting up and coming to stand next to her trying to force the door open too. "I swear that I have no idea what those _idiots _are doing!" He hammered on the door and yelled through it "Sirius! You complete twat, let us out now!"

"Wait, my wand is in my bag." Lily said. She reached into her bag and rummaged around in it for a moment before freezing and turning slightly paler. "It _was_ in my bag, I swear it was."

She dug deeper in then turned the entire thing upside down. Books fell to the floor, along with parchment and quills, but no wand.

"Shit!" Lily swore so suddenly that James looked towards her, shocked.

"Marlene must have taken it! I can't believe..." she trailed off, shaking her head. Then she looked up at James. "Do you have your wand?"

"I had it," he replied, reaching into his back pockets. "Peter must have taken it when he tripped into me. I mean, he's clumsy but he's not _that_ clumsy."

Lily turned, if possible, even paler. "So now we are locked in a broom cupboard... _together _"

James sighed and turned to shout through the door again "Sirius Black, when I get out of here, you are going to be in such big shit!"

Lily dropped onto an upside down bucket. She had repacked her bag and now she leaned against the wall. "What I don't understand is, what is the point of all this?"

James laughed. "This? This is Sirius's idea of a practical joke."

Lily snorted. "Great friends you've got Potter!"

"Yeah, they are great friends actually!" James retorted, his voice rising slightly in defence of the other Marauders.

"You still think that after they lock you in a broom cupboard?"

"Yes!" James snapped. "So are you saying that when we get out, Marlene won't be your friend anymore?"

"No," Lily said. She was looking at him with a strange expression on her face.

"What?" James asked.

"Your faithful to your friends James Potter," she said finally, "I'll give you that."

James wasn't quite sure how to respond so he laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" Lily scowled.

"Well Lils, I think that is the nicest thing that you've ever said to me. I'm at a loss for words!"

The corners of Lily's mouth curved upwards in a half smile.

She watched him walk backwards and forwards a few times before sliding down the wall and facing her.

"I suppose we're going to have to find something to pass the time without arguing." He said slowly.

"Yeah, I guess we do." Lily said. There was a pause then she said "can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." James said, indicating that she could with a wave of his hand.

"You knew about my sister's marriage? You even knew what I thought about it, how?"

James smiled. "Oh, that."

"Yes that. I can tell you right now Potter; if you've been spying on me –"

"I haven't been spying on you." James cut her off. "Think back; who have you told?"

"Only Alice and Marl... oh!" she said, realising. Her eyes narrowed. "Ii can't tell her anything!"

James laughed. "It wasn't McKinnon's fault. I just asked her how her summer had been and I could tell that she hadn't been completely honest in her answer. She refused to tell me anything though, then I heard Alice talking to Frank about it and I realised. I asked her about it again and she finally gave in and told me."

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "Should I not care? Would you prefer that?"

"I'm not completely sure sometimes." Lily said quietly, not looking at him. "If you'd asked me that a week ago I would have said that yes, I would prefer it, but now...?" She finally looked up at him. "You're not so much of the arrogant toerag that you once were Potter."

James nodded. It was true that he had matured over the last summer holidays, he'd had to deal with Sirius being a complete wreck and running off all the time. He had seen the pain that his best friend had gone through and that sort of thing ages you slightly. "Maybe..." James trailed off and shook his head.

"What?" Lily's voice wasn't exactly kind but the expression on her face gave James the courage to finish his sentence. "Listen Lily, I'm sick of us arguing constantly. What if we were to start again, try and be friends – see how it goes?"

He was greeted with silence. Lily was looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Actually," James said after ten more seconds of this silence, "forget I just said that, it was a stupid idea. I was an idiot for even thinking –"

"No," Lily said, cutting him off. James raised his head to look at her. "No, it wasn't a stupid idea."

James looked up at her hopefully.

Lily sighed resignedly. "What I'm trying to say is that – this is our last year and I don't want it to end like – well, I agree with you, I think we should give it a go."

A wide smile broke over James's handsome face as she said this.

"Just one thing!" Lily said quickly.

"What?" James asked warily.

"Please don't ask me out."

James smiled again and raised his hand to shoulder height, palm facing her. "I promise." He said sincerely.

"Thank you... James." Lily replied. She said his name hesitantly at first but she smiled as she said it.

* * *

**A/N **Thanks for reading, Reviews are appreciated, feel free to contact me if you want to ask anything, I will upload the next chapter a some point soon as I am still in the notebook writing of it

Cheers,

_Molteaser x_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N **Just want to say a thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story and a HUGE thanks to all my friends who have come up with some great ideas and said such nice things about it. You know who you all are and I am grateful to all the help you've given me you. Love you all loads you smellies xxx :))

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter 11

The end of November came and went and October came around much quicker than people expected.

Lily and James had quickly forgiven Marlene and Sirius for what they had done as they had resolved old differences and had taken the opportunity to give their new and fragile friendship a chance to grow.

Even though he had been let off the hook, Sirius still insisted that Remus had come up with the broom cupboard as well and Peter had been the one to actually have taken James's wand in the end. However, despite all his previous confidence which he had shown in his plan, Sirius was still surprised that it had worked – to a certain extent.

James, Sirius and Marlene had enough to worry about in the meantime; the Quidditch season was drawing close and James was training his team almost every day.

"Merlin, I'm knackered!" James said collapsing into an armchair by the Gryffindor fire. He looked around at Lily and Alice. Both girls were writing; Lily doing her homework, Alice scribbling an extremely long letter.

Sirius and Marlene staggered in after him; Sirius barley making it to the rug by the fire before he fell to the floor.

Marlene glanced at him, raising one eyebrow. "You tired then Sirius?" She asked good-naturedly.

Sirius just groaned and flung an arm over his head, rolling so he was face down on the burgundy carpet.

Remus laughed from where he was nestled deep in an armchair, his eyes focused on the book in front of him.

"Something funny Moony?" James mumbled.

Remus looked up and shook his head, still grinning. "Good book," he said gesturing to it with a fond look.

"Right..." James said, clearly losing interest.

Lily however glanced up at the cover page and said almost as enthusiastically as if she were in class, "I've read that one, it's excellent don't you think?"

"Oh Merlin, here they go!" Sirius muttered as Remus delved wholeheartedly into an animated conversation with Lily about what books she had and hadn't read.

James suddenly sprung to his feet. "Right, Sirius, Marlene, bed, now!"

Sirius looked at him and Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking to us?"

"Yes, we have a very important game tomorrow morning and my team needs to rest!" James said in an exasperated voice.

"Really? We have an important game tomorrow? I never would have guessed!" Sirius said sarcastically. "You've only told us once –"

"Twice." Marlene corrected.

"Three times?"

"At least half a dozen –"

"Maybe more."

"Oh very funny." James said scowling at the pair of them who just laughed even harder at the expression on James' face.

"Fine," Marlene said, still chuckling. "We're going, we're going."

Once James had made his whole team retire to their dorms to prepare for the next day, he too slowly made his way up to bed and was asleep before his head had hit the pillow.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and early. Marlene got changed into her robes and sat on the edge of her bed, watching the other girls get dressed into red and gold jumpers, put on scarlet scarves and hats then they made their way in a procession down to the common room.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were down there. James was looking very agitated and Sirius was dealing with his nerves by flirting outrageously with Marlene on the way to the Great Hall and being even louder than he usually was.

The rest of the Gryffindor team were all seated at the house table and when James entered, the whole house started cheering.

James grinned and sat down at the table, pulling the toast towards him.

"You nervous?" Zoey Thompson asked Marlene quietly.

"Me? Nervous? I don't think so!" Marlene replied, grinning at her. In truth she wasn't nervous, she knew that they would go out there and kick Ravenclaw's butts. She looked around at her team in complete confidence. It just wasn't in her nature to be nervous and if she was, she hid it extremely well.

"Right, let's get down to the pitch." James said, picking up his broom and patting Sirius on the back.

"Good luck everyone!" Alice said. Remus nodded, his mouth full of cereal and Peter gave them the thumbs up.

"Good luck James, you'll be great!" Lily called after them.

Marlene smirked and Sirius and James both grinned; James triumphantly and Sirius in a 'told-you-so' way.

Conditions were perfect. Blue sky and hardly any wind.

The Gryffindor changing rooms were buzzing with nerves. When the time came, James called out and silence fell as everyone looked at their captain expectantly.

"Right," James said, "when we get out on that pitch, I want you all to play exactly as you have been doing these past few weeks in training. You can do this and I'll try and catch the Snitch as soon as I can."

"Well, I'm glad you've got our backs, Prongs." Sirius said jokingly.

James shot him a look and Sirius shut up.

The noise of the crowds outside was rising.

James straightened up. "Let's do this!"

The Gryffindor team followed him out onto the pitch where Madam Hooch and the Ravenclaw team were waiting. They were greeted by a torrent of cheering coming from the scarlet and gold end of the stadium.

James shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain, Kenneth Jones, a broad shouldered Beater.

"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch ordered.

The whistle blasted through the air and fourteen players shot upwards into the sky. The crowd roared its appreciation.

Marlene heard Max McGregor – one of her ex-boyfriends commentary.

"AND IT'S GRYFFINDOR THAT TAKES THE QUAFFLE – AND IT'S GRYFFINDOR'S NEW SEEKER DAN SEABOLT STREAKING UP THE PITCH TOWARDS RAVENCLAW'S END – EAGER TO PROVE HIMSELF – BUT THAT'S FLETCHLY WHO SENDS A BLUDGER HIS WAY –"

Marlene flew just below Dan and as the Quaffle dropped, she caught it.

"MCKINNON WITH THE QUAFFLE – CONTINUING UP THE PITCH – IS RAVENCLAW'S NEW KEEPER UP TO THIS? MCKINNON HAS A LONG STANDING RECORD OF NOT MISSING – AND SHE SCORES! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Marlene grinned and sped back towards Gryffindor's end who were all screaming their approval.

"Nice one McKinnon!" Sirius yelled over to her as he swung his bat through the air, aiming a passing Bludger towards the oncoming Ravenclaw Chaser.

Marlene inclined her head towards him, grinning. Then she turned her broom around and dove downwards with both Zoey and Dan on her tail.

* * *

"Half an hour through the game." Lily muttered, checking her watch. "What is he _doing_?!"

She stared up at where James was circling the game, eyes constantly on the watch for any hint of the Golden Snitch.

"You can't hurry these sorts of things." Remus explained to her, him having heard a lot of the Quidditch talks from James and Sirius. "He has to wait until Gryffindor are a good way in the lead. That's what matters most in this game; points scored."

Lily and Alice stared at him. Peter was the only one who didn't seem surprised at Remus' wealth of knowledge on this subject.

"We are fifty points ahead..." Lily pointed out, "Marlene having scored three of those goals. He should catch the Snitch soon."

"Again, not as simple as that..." Remus muttered as he watched Sirius hit another Bludger towards the Ravenclaw Seeker.

Suddenly the crowd drew in a collective gasp. James and the other seeker had both gone into a breakneck dive. Lily stood up on her seat to see better as the two players shot towards the ground.

"They're going to crash!" Peter squealed hysterically.

"No they're not!" Remus scoffed dismissively.

At the last second, James pulled out of the dive and rolled harmlessly onto the grass. The crowd was dead silent as they waited. Then James shoved his fist high into the air, a look of pure triumph on his face.

"Yes!" Alice squealed, jumping up and down on her seat. "We won! We won!"

The rest of the team went crashing into their captain who promptly fell over as he was smothered by his fellow players.

Alice grabbed Lily's arm and they fought their way over to Marlene who gave them both a hug.

"Party! Common room! Now!" Sirius yelled and the Gryffindor players and supporters alike yelled in agreement.

Lily, Alice and Marlene were rushed to the common room in a river of red clad people all laughing and congratulating themselves on such a good performance.

* * *

"Who wants to play a game of Truth or Dare?" James shouted over the music playing. The common room had been transformed into something that resembled a nightclub.

Lily looked at him. "That's a kid's game James!"

"Come on Lils, live a little!" Marlene called. She holding a bottle of firewhisky in her hand and she was swaying slightly. Lily could tell that she was drunk.

"I'm in!" Sirius called and he threw a load of chocolate frogs into the crowd. Lily was willing to bet that Sirius was even more drunk than Marlene was and she promised herself to keep an eye on the pair of them.

Alice, Frank and the rest of the Marauder's all agreed to play. They went over to the corner of the common room and sat in a circle.

"Who's first?" James asked. He faced them all then pointed at Remus. "Moony, Truth or Dare?"

Remus considered for a second. "Truth." He said finally.

Lily had a suspicious feeling that he had played this game with his friends before and had learnt never to choose dare.

"Who is your favourite Marauder?" Marlene asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"None of them; they are all really good friends to me. Better friends than most people realise." Remus said. "But if I had to chose, I'd probably say... James. Sirius is too obnoxious and Pete, no hard feelings 'k?"

"Sure, none taken." Peter said. He looked as if he had expected that answer.

Remus turned to Lily. "Lily, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Lily said instantly.

"Would you ever go out with Prongs?" Sirius asked immediately.

Lily glared at him but he just smirked at her.

"I don't know..." Lily said quietly. "He has to deflate his head a bit more before I consider it."

James blew a kiss in her direction and winked.

"Oh, this is so boring!" Marlene said, taking another gulp of her firewhisky. "Can someone please choose dare!"

"Fine, Marlene, Truth or Dare?" Lily said.

Marlene grinned and leaned back, looking completely relaxed. "Dare." She said calmly.

Alice smiled evilly. "You have to kiss Sirius."

The Marauders all blanched. All of them except Sirius who didn't look remotely fazed. Lily supposed that he kissed girls all the time and this was no different.

Marlene looked at Alice for a second then she twisted around, grabbed Sirius by the shoulders and kissed him without any trace of hesitation.

Lily's eyes widened. She hadn't thought that Marlene would actually do it and it was a bit more than just a kiss.

The Marauder's burst out laughing and James wolf-whistled.

Marlene broke away from Sirius and took another swig from her bottle.

Sirius, Lily noticed looked exactly as he had before except from the small smile on his face and the fact that his eyes kept darting towards Marlene.

By the end of the night, as the last few partygoers had stumbled up to bed after Professor McGonagall had walked in on them and told them all to stop the celebrations as they hadn't even won the cup yet, Lily lay awake in bed, positive that above everything he believed in, Sirius Black had fallen for Marlene and Lily was determined to use any means she could to get them together.

* * *

**A/N **I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, I'm still writing the next one - unfortunately, my writing has now caught up on itself so chapters won't be as frequent any more. I will still update whenever I can. Thanks for reading, please review. :))

_Molteaser x_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N** Here you are, chapter twelve! Sorry for the long wait :( hope you enjoy, not a lot blackinnon in this but there is a LOT in the next one :))

Please review, none of this is mine ect.

Thanks

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Marlene woke up the next morning when Lily opened the curtains in the dormitory. Light streamed into the room and hit Marlene full in the face. She groaned and pulled the duvet over her face.

"Lily!" She growled, her voice muffled by the blankets. "What are you doing?!"

"Getting up." Lily said briskly. "Do you have any memory of what happened last night?"

Marlene scrunched her eyes closed and tried to remember but everything was a fuzzy blur and she couldn't pick apart the details. "I don't know," she mumbled. "What happened?"

"You kissed Sirius!" Lily said. She sounded astonished that Marlene couldn't actually remember anything.

"What?" Marlene said sitting up and looking at her friend with an astounded expression.

"You got dared to kiss him... And um, you did a little more than just kiss him." Lily said tentatively, pulling a face for effect.

Marlene smirked. "Bet he didn't know what had hit him."

"I don't think he did." Lily said laughing, completely used to Marlene's unfazed attitude.

* * *

At the first opportunity she got, Lily confided in James about her suspicions concerning his best friend.

They were finishing a Tranfiguation essay in the library at lunchtime. Lily had come to realise that James was in fact a very good listener and her listened to her theories in silence.

When she finished, James put down his quill and lent forward on his elbows, his fingers interlocked on the table. "Your right about Sirius Lils, he's liked Marlene for a while now but because he's Sirius, he won't admit it. I'm just not sure he'd appreciate you intervening."

"Why not?" Lily asked. "He intervenes with everyone else's lives."

"Yes but Sirius... You won't know about this but Sirius didn't run away from his family because him and his mother had a fight."

Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had been told that Sirius and his mother had had an argument which had cause Sirius to leave.

"Yeah, Sirius' parents had arranged a pure blood marriage for him. That's why he left. He didn't even tell me at first - just turned up at mine in a right state, he was a total wreck. Anyway, he's only just managed to tell Remus and Peter. Sirius hates his life being planned out for him and he would hate it if someone tried to set him up with someone else." James picked up his quill again and turned beck to his parchment, not looking at Lily. "Trust me Lils, is Sirius wants to make a move on Marlene then he'll do it in his own time."

Lily nodded but secretly decided that it couldn't hurt to just give him a slight nudge into asking Marlene out.

* * *

"If you've come to talk about Sirius and Marlene I already know." Remus said as Lily opened her mouth to say something. Lily closed her mouth again and frowned.

Remus, Lily and Alice were replanting Venomous Tectactacula in the Herbology greenhouses. None of the other Marauders had taken the subject and only Alice shared Lily's love of plants.

Remus looked up at the two girls with an exasperated expression. "James told me what you were planning and I agree with him; it's a really bad idea."

"What's a bad idea?" Alice asked curiously.

Lily explained her plan to Alice who, to Remus' dismay, her face lit up with each passing word.

"Yes!" Alice exclaimed. "They are perfect for each other!"

"Says the one who got Marlene to kiss Sirius last night." Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"I only said to kiss him - not snog him senseless!" Alice said immediately. "That was Marlene's doing."

"A very drunk Marlene." Remus corrected.

"She was fine with it this morning." Lily pointed out. She was right; Sirius and Marlene had both continued with their normal, slightly flirtatious banter. "Come on Remus, you've seen how they get on - they're always flirting."

"And you must realise that this is Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon we are talking about." Remus said pointedly. "Sirius flirts with any pretty girl that happens to be around."

"Have you heard Sirius flirt with anyone else besides Marlene this year?" Alice said.

That shut Remus up. Truth be told, now he thought about it, Sirius had been lying unusually low this year. "Just, let them sort it out themselves." Remus pleaded but he could tell that no amount of begging would stop these two when they were in full flow.

* * *

The Great Hall buzzed with students, all sitting down to eat their dinner. The ceiling of the Hall showed a golden and pink sunset and the candles were just starting to come alight.

James watched Peter load food onto his plate. Remus was watching Sirius pick absentmindedly at his own food with a thoughtful expression. James suspected that Lily had talked to him about Sirius in Herbology. That was the exact reason that James had warned his friend.

"Sirius," Remus said finally. "How much would you rate that girl over there?"

Sirius glanced over at the Ravenclaw table where a pretty, dark haired sixth year was eating her dinner and chatting to her friends.

He contemplated for a moment then said "seven."

"What about her friend?" James asked, indicating the brunette who she was sitting next to."

"Probably an eight." Sirius said. "Why are you -"

"What about them?" Peter said, pointing at where Lily, Alice and Marlene had just come into the hall.

"Well, Lily's probably an eight - she's too studious, Alice, I'd say was a seven - she's got a boyfriend and Marlene?" He paused for half a second then said "a nine."

"A nine?" James asked, shocked. Sirius never gave anyone over eight.

"Oh, fine then, Marlene's a ten." He saw them all looking at him and smirked. "What are you all staring at? Come on, you have to admit it; McKinnon is hot."

James and Remus looked at each other. It hadn't occurred to them until now that Lily's plan, may actually work.

* * *

**A/N** Hope you liked it, please review cheers x


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N** Here you are, as promised. This is such a blackinnon fluffy, cheesey chapter... we'll have lots of drama in the next one but for now, it's the one you've all been waiting for.

Enjoy, please review, the usual :))

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

"Today, I will be teaching you how to conjure the Patronus charm." The Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Minosta strode up and down in front of her class. "This spell is extremely complex and it requires a large amount of concentration." She spun on her heel and said. "Can anyone tell me what the Patronus charm is used for?"

Marlene sat at her desk and watched the Professor's eyes roam around the room.

"Black!" the teacher snapped, making Sirius, who was sitting at the desk behind Marlene, jump and look up towards the Professor. "What is the main use for the Patronus?"

Sirius smiled charmingly, "to ward off Dementors Professor."

"Precisely!" the teacher called and returned her attention to the board.

Marlene twisted around in her seat and saw James pass a piece of paper to Sirius discreetly. Sirius read it and then turned back to James to shake his head and glare at him.

James darted a glance at Marlene quickly. Marlene raised an eyebrow questioningly at him. He shook his head at her and looked away.

Marlene caught Sirius' eye but Sirius looked away, almost as if he was embarrassed.

That surprised Marlene; Sirius was never embarrassed, ever. So what had happened now to make him look away in that awkward way?

Shaking her head slightly she turned back to face the front.

"Right, the charm for this spell is; _Expecto Patronum_." Professor Minosta said, taking out her own wand and waving it. A silvery white Antelope sprung from the wand tip. It jumped around her for a bit then dissolved in wisps of silvery white.

"The key to this spell is to think of something happy. Without a strong happy thought or feeling, the spell won't be as powerful. The stronger the thought, the more potent the Patronus is." The Professor continued.

Marlene searched her memory for a happy memory. None seemed that strong. She sighed and looked sideways at Lily who had her eyes closed and a frown on her face.

Half an hour later Marlene had only just managed to conjure up a few wisps of silvery smoke. She was getting slightly frustrated with the whole thing.

"Yes!" Lily called out as a white doe appeared out of the end of her wand. She grinned at it. Her grin slowly faded when she looked across the classroom at the Marauders. "Oh great!" she muttered. "He only needs something like this to fuel his ego right now."

Marlene followed her gaze and smiled slightly when she saw in the corner of the room, the four Marauders surrounded by silver animals; a dog, a rat, a large wolf and a stag. Marlene burst out laughing when she saw James catch sight of Lily's Patronus and wag his eyebrows.

* * *

"You're not holding your wand right." A voice said behind her.

Marlene spun around and came face-to-face with Sirius. She raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"Look, you do it like this." Sirius took hold of her wrist and held it up in front of her. "Hold that there." He said then walked around behind her and reached around her so he wrapped his hand around the one she was holding the wand with. "Now think of something happy – I mean, really happy." He said.

Marlene felt his breath tickle across her face and her back press against him. She breathed out once and whispered "_Expecto Patronum._"

A silver lioness burst from her wand tip and soared above the heads of the students.

Marlene grinned and heard Sirius laughter in her ear. She spun around to face him but hadn't realised how close he actually was. She found herself staring up into his face that was only inches away from her own. Her heart started to beat faster and she felt a slight shiver go down her spine when she met his gaze.

Sirius stopped laughing and looked back at her.

Marlene cleared her throat slightly and took a small step back. "Thanks." She said quietly.

He straightened up and smiled at her. "Anytime."

* * *

Slughorn beamed around at his class. The large teacher was one of the favourites – if only because of how he treated his classes.

Marlene sat at the back of the classroom next to Lily, trying to ignore the fact that she was uberaware that Sirius was sitting on her other side. That was taking up most of her concentration.

"Righto," Slughorn boomed in his loud tones. "Today we shall be brewing the Draught of Death which we would have done last year but... um – well, class was a bit disrupted."

James and Sirius both smirked. They had upset a cauldron of potion and it had landed all over Slughorn's trousers which had instantly burst into flame. Pandemonium had reigned as quarter of the class had tried to put the fire out, while the rest of them had almost died of laughter at the sight of the large Professor running around the room, bottom half aflame, shrieking at the top of his voice.

"I think I will put you in pairs myself today. Mr Potter, you will _not_ be working with Mr Black. I think you can go with Mr Lupin here. Miss Evans, can you go with Mr Lockhart –"

James narrowed his eyes at the blond Ravenclaw.

"– Mr Black, you can work with Miss McKinnon." Slughorn continued.

Marlene sighed; so much for ignoring him.

"Have you noticed how them lot have been behaving... strangely recently?" Marlene asked Sirius, looking over his shoulder just in time to see James, Lily, Alice and Remus all look away from them quickly.

"Yeah," Sirius said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. There was silence for a second then both of them started laughing.

Marlene saw Lily stare at them intently and seeing that just made her laugh even more.

The lesson continued in this way for another hour. James, Lily, Remus and Alice would constantly look over at Marlene and Sirius and the pair of them were getting slightly suspicious.

"Padfoot, mate," James said quietly to his best friend when he had happened to go and get more ingredients from the store cupboard at the same time as Sirius had. "Just get a grip on yourself and ask her out. You are Sirius Black – _act like him!_"

The only response he got was another glare.

When Sirius got back to his table, he found Marlene stirring the potion and reading the textbook with a look of deep concentration on her face.

He dumped the herbs that he had collected down next to her and glanced back at James who nodded encouragingly and gave him the thumbs up.

Sighing, he turned to face Marlene again who was now adding the ingredients. "Uh, Marlene..." he trailed off, not quite sure how to phrase this.

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

Sirius looked at James who waved his hands in a shooing gesture. When Marlene looked in his direction to see what Sirius was staring at, James instantly stopped waving his hands about like a madman and pretended to look immensely interested in the potion Remus was making.

Sirius cleared his throat, shooting a killer look in James' general direction and said "So, you know it's the first Hogsmead trip this weekend?"

"Yeah...?" Marlene said, drawing the question out.

"Are you going with anyone?" Sirius asked, leaning against the table.

Marlene had now put down her stirring tool and was giving him her full attention. "Not unless you count Lily."

"I'm not counting Lily."

"Fine, I'm not going with anyone then."

"Well..." Sirius said slowly. "I was wondering – since you're not going with anyone, and neither am I, would you go with me?"

Marlene stood staring at him for a moment. Just as Sirius was beginning to get slightly concerned, she seemed to come to life again. "Are you... do you mean on a date?"

"You're intuition, as always, leaves me astonished." Sirius joked.

Marlene hit him on the arm. "I'm serious here, are you asking me out?"

"That depends on your answer."

She narrowed her eyes. "You can't do that!"

Sirius shrugged and grinned. "It's a free country McKinnon."

Marlene was silent for a moment. Then she said quietly, "what if I said 'no'?"

"Then I'd say, never mind, it was worth the shot." Sirius said, eyeing her cautiously.

"And if I said 'yes'?" Marlene asked.

"Then I would be asking you out." Sirius clarified.

The corners of Marlene's mouth were curling upwards. "Okay then." She said. "I'll go with you."

Sirius looked at her to see if she was joking or not but her eyes were perfectly serious. A grin slowly stretched over his face.

They were interrupted by a loud yell.

Sirius and Marlene both spun around to see Lily with her finger pointing at James, a scowl on her face which completely contradicted her eyes which were sparkling with delight. "James Potter, how long have you known about this?!"

James was wearing an expression of innocence. Behind him, Remus was shaking with laughter, Alice was grinning and Peter who was working with a Hufflepuff across the room was pointing at them all, his shrieks of laughter echoing through the dungeon classroom.

* * *

**A/N** Hope you liked it, the fluff... it was difficult to write stuff like that because its not what I'm used to so tell me what you thought of it. :))

Thanks for reading

_Molteaser x_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N** Sorry for not updating sooner, i've been focusing on writing chapter 16 which is proved to be quite hard to write. We've got some Sirius/Regulus drama in this chapter, I hope you like it :)

Enjoy, please review, the usual :))

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

"It's not them." Remus said, barely looking up from his favourite cereal.

James and Sirius had both turned in their seats to see who was coming into the Great Hall. When they realised that it wasn't Lily and her friends, both boys let out sighs of what could only be relief.

Remus looked at them over the top of his spoon. "What is wrong with you two this morning?" he asked. "Him I can understand," he pointed his now empty spoon at Sirius. "He is going on an actual date this morning but you however," Remus now swung his spoon around to point threateningly at James, "you have absolutely no reason to be nervous! Lily isn't going on a date with you and you won't even be by yourselves; me and Pete will be with you at all times. Why in Merlin's name are you nervous?"

"I'm not nervous! Why would you even think that Moony?!" James said.

"You're twitching." Remus said, in a 'matter-of-fact' voice.

"Twitching?!" James exclaimed as Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Remus was saved from answering by the arrival of the post owls.

Nobody was expecting any post and least of all Sirius, so it was a surprise when a brown tawny landed in front of him and held out its leg, a letter attached to it.

James, Remus and Peter all looked at Sirius curiously as he unfolded the letter and his eyes skimmed over the writing.

Then the colour drained from his face and his hand clutched the letter so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

When he didn't say anything, James said "Sirius? What's wrong?"

Sirius looked up at him, his eyes unfocused.

"Padfoot, what's in the letter?" James urged. The pallor of Sirius' face was freaking him out.

"I – I have to go... can you tell Marlene..." but Sirius trailed off as something across the hall caught his attention. His expression darkened into a scowl. He got up and without finishing his sentence Sirius strode across the hall and disappeared.

James sat there for a few seconds, completely bewildered. "What was that about?"

Then he saw Lily, Alice and Marlene walk into the Great Hall. "Oh no," he looked at Remus. "What do we tell her?"

Remus shrugged, "the truth; we don't actually know. We should go and find him though."

James nodded and stood up. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."

"But what about Hogsmead?" Peter asked.

"We'll have to leave it Wormy." James said. "This is more important."

"Are you guys okay?" Lily said.

She, Marlene and Alice had reached the table.

James noticed Marlene's eyes sweep the table. When it became clear that Sirius was not there, a small crease appeared between her eyebrows. "Where's Sirius?" she asked.

"Um..." James looked at Remus then said. "We don't actually know. We're going to find him."

Lily nodded and looked at Marlene who was frowning and glancing between James and Remus.

"Alright then, let's go, we'll see you later Lils." James said.

Remus got up and walked out behind James and Peter stuffed the rest of his crumpet into his mouth and followed his friends.

* * *

Sirius strode down the corridor, turning corners and blindly searching. He still carried the letter that he had just received from his cousin Andromeda.

He rounded a corner and came face-to-face with the one person he was looking for; Regulus.

Acting faster than he thought he would've been able to in a situation like this, Sirius grabbed his younger brother by the front of his robes and slammed him into the wall. "Are you all happy now?" he snarled.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Regulus gasped, still shocked.

"This!" Sirius spat and let go of his brother, stuffing the crumpled letter into his chest instead. "This is what sort of perfect family you have."

"_Our family_ Sirius." Regulus corrected automatically.

"They are _not _my family." Sirius growled dangerously as Regulus unfolded the letter and read out loud

"'_Dear Sirius, hopefully this letter will reach you soon as if it doesn't I hate to think what you will think of me. Mind you, you probably wouldn't believe them anyway, no matter what they said.' _Whose 'they'?" Regulus asked suspiciously.

"Read on." Sirius snapped in monotone.

"'_Anyway, what I'm writing to tell you about is that I have just gotten engaged to Ted Tonks (I don't know if you remember him?) The down side is that Ted is muggleborn, when the family found out, they were not so happy for me...'" _Regulus trailed off and scanned the rest of the letter in silence.

"She says that she doesn't know what she's going to do. Ted's family can only take her for a few more weeks, she's disowned now as well." Sirius said with less viciousness now that it had become clear that Regulus hadn't known about this. "This is all because your _family_ values pureblood marriages more than actual affection for the other person."

"You don't really have to worry about that anymore though Sirius, since you're not really family." Regulus snapped, his face clearing of any emotion that had been there when he was reading his cousin's letter. "Mother even blasted you off the family tree."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Bet she just loved doing that."

"Kreacher is rather fond of muttering about it." Regulus said. Then in a quieter tone "you shouldn't have left..."

Sirius let out an involuntary twitch and his scowl came back. "I left because I had too Reg. I was in no way going to go through with the life that they had planned out for me."

"And now you're dating McKinnon. Mother's not happy with you." Regulus said smirking.

"You're making no sense Regulus! First they're my family, then they're not and now I have to worry about what mother thinks?" Sirius exclaimed, exasperated. "And how the hell did you know about Marlene – we aren't even going out?"

Regulus shrugged. "I thought you'd want to know. First Potter, now McKinnon. You hang around with Blood-traitors and Mudbloods like them and Evans, they'll end up getting hurt." He stepped sideways to move past his older brother but Sirius mirrored his movements and blocked his way. "Was that a threat?" he growled.

Regulus smiled. "Of course it wasn't. Now, if you don't mind, I want to go to Hogsmead and enjoy my weekend. Goodbye Sirius, have fun with McKinnon today." He pushed past Sirius and walked down the hallway.

Sirius watched him go with a bitter expression. He hated to be reminded of his old family and encounters with them put him in a bad mood.

* * *

The Marauders found Sirius at the top of North Tower, his favourite place to go and sit and think. James silently went and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

Sirius moved slightly but didn't turn around.

"Padfoot mate," James said quietly. "Are you alright?"

Sirius nodded slowly. Then he held up the letter they had seen him get that morning. "It's Andi; she's been disowned."

"Shit..." James breathed and he sat down next to his friend. He knew that Remus and Peter were letting him handle this – after all, he was the one with the most practice. "What did she do?"

"She got engaged to a muggleborn." Sirius said, still looking out at the landscape.

"Mate, your family is uptight." James said.

Sirius was quiet for a moment then he said "I spoke to Regulus..."

James frowned. "What did he say?"

"He – he said..." Sirius swallowed and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It's not important."

James nodded knowing that whatever Sirius had wanted to say but decided not to, he would tell him eventually.

"Thanks Prongs." Sirius said after a while and James knew the depth of what he was really saying.

* * *

**A/N** thanks for reading :) the next chapter is a lot of Marlene/Sirius and Lily/James drama and not quite in the way you might expect... i'll upload it sometime this weekend, probably Easter Sunday - or Monday (it depends where you are in the world)

Thanks for reading

_Molteaser x_


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N** Thi is a nice long chapter for you lovies! lots of drama in this one :) x

Enjoy, please review, the usual :))

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

"Don't worry Marls," Lily said calmly. "They'll find Sirius then catch us up."

Marlene said nothing; she just nodded and kicked a stone that was lying on the dusty track which led towards Hogsmead.

When they reached the village, Lily and Marlene said goodbye to Alice and Frank who were going off on their own and slowly made their way to the Three Broomsticks.

It was packed with students when they arrived. The bar was swelling and Madam Rosmerta looked as though she was being run off her feet.

"Can we have two mugs of Butterbeer please?" Lily asked the stressed out barmaid.

When they got their drinks, the two girls sat in silence before Marlene broke it. "Lily?" she asked tentatively.

"Mm?" Lily mumbled, taking a gulp of her drink.

"You don't think that the Marauders sort of... hung us out to dry with today?"

Lily chocked on her Butterbeer. "W - What? How do you mean?"

Marlene looked at her miserably. "I don't _want_ to think that James and – and Sirius would do this but," she paused then said hurriedly "this morning when I asked where Sirius was, it just seemed as though James was somehow avoiding the question, then he looked at Remus and told us he didn't know. Then they went off to 'find him'. Don't you think that just seems a bit... dodgy?"

"Are you saying," Lily said after a moment, "that the whole thing with Sirius this morning was made up to... to get rid of us?"

Marlene put her head in her hands, "I don't know." She muttered.

"Marley," Lily said urgently, putting her mug down and leaning across the table. "James would never do that to Sirius and Sirius would never do that to you. You are just having doubts and there is nothing wrong with that but, you have to trust them. Sirius cares for you more than he will admit it."

Marlene snorted disbelievingly and looked away.

"He does, Marls. I know he does." Lily said with as much conviction as she could. "We'll probably go out there and see them looking for us."

Marlene nodded and took a gulp of Butterbeer.

* * *

"They're probably in the Three Broomsticks." James said to his friends as they trailed after him towards Hogsmead.

When they reached the square James made to go towards the pub.

"Wait, James!" Remus called. "They might be in Honeydukes."

"What is it with you and Honeydukes Moony?" James asked.

"He has a sweet tooth – especially for the chocolate." Sirius said distractedly.

"That's not the reason –" Remus said immediately.

"You won't find Lily in the Three Broomsticks or Honeydukes Potter!" a voice said from behind them, cutting Remus off from his protests.

James whirled around, hand automatically plunging into his pocket for his wand.

Severus Snape stood a few feet away from them, his greasy hair falling in his face and his black eyes alive with malice.

Sirius grabbed James' wand arm and forced it down. "James, leave it! Let's just go and find the girls alright?"

James turned and started walking away but Snape's voice rung out behind them again. "As if Lily would ever be friends with you – let alone go out with you! After all, she's easily influenced. I've heard that that's a common trait for Mudbloods!"

James spun round again, wand pointed at Snape who wasn't quick enough with his shield charm and was hoisted up by his leg and hung there, watching James advance towards him with a vicious expression on his face.

"Take that back Snivellus!" James snarled dangerously.

A large crowd had started to gather and Sirius felt an uneasy sense of déjà vu. This was like a memory of what had happened nearly two years ago on a summer's day after they had finished their defence OWLs.

"James," Remus said. "Now is not the time, walk away mate."

James acted like he hadn't heard his friend and continued to move towards Snape.

* * *

"Fight! There's a fight in the square!" someone yelled.

Benches and stools scraped against the floor as nearly everyone scrambled towards the exit to see who was fighting.

Lily and Marlene exchanged a look before both of them jumped up and followed everyone else outside.

At the doorway however, they found their way blocked by Alice and Frank. "Lily, I don't think you should go out there." Alice said.

"Why not?" Lily asked, frowning.

"Because –" Alice began but she was cut off by shouts and boos from the crowd outside.

"Don't stand for that James!"

"Get him Potter!"

"Oh that was nasty!"

"_James_ is fighting out there?!" Lily demanded incredulously. She pushed past Alice and strode out into the weak sunlight.

Marlene and Alice exchanged dark looks. Alice nodded slightly, telling Marlene that Sirius was there as well.

Marlene tightened her grip on her wand instinctively.

She pushed through the crowd that seemed to be endless. She felt dazed. _This isn't happening. Lily said that Sirius wouldn't do this to her. _Marlene shook her head and shoved people aside, not caring who they were, desperate to reach the red haired person a few paces in front of her.

Suddenly, almost like the crowd had spat her out, Marlene bust through and the scene in front of her was almost the exact one she had seen two years ago.

Standing in front of her and in the middle of a ring of onlookers was James, Sirius and Snape. Snape was once again strung up by his ankle and James and Sirius were once again advancing on him. There was a cut on James' left cheek and Snape's wand was lying several feet away.

Marlene searched for Lily. She found her a few meters to her right, not that far from Remus and Peter.

Remus was shaking his head and watching the scene with a pained expression on his face and Peter's eyes were darting from James to Sirius to Snape then back again. Neither of them was attempting to stop their friends.

"Lily," Marlene called softly as Alice appeared on her other side. Lily looked at her friends. "Lily, let's go. We really shouldn't –"

'_Be here._' Was what Marlene had been about to say but the words caught in her throat as her eyes met a pair of familiar grey ones across the circle.

Lily however, ignored her and squaring her shoulders, she stepped forward into the ring. "James." She said firmly.

James spun round and Snape turned his head to look at her.

If Marlene hadn't been staring at Sirius, she might have seen the spark of triumph that lit up Snape's black, dead eyes.

"James," Lily said again. "What are you doing?"

James opened his mouth to speak but Snape got there before him. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Be quiet Severus." Lily said calmly, not looking at him. "James let him down –"

But Snape let out a howl of fury and yelled "don't tell me to be quiet you filthy little Mudblood! This is entirely your fault!"

"No, Sev, I swear I didn't know about this!" Lily said, trying to hide the hurt that his words had caused her.

Marlene and Alice both hurried forwards and grabbed Lily's elbows.

James started to move towards them to help but Marlene shook her head at him and Alice snapped "back off James, we've got this."

James looked from Lily to Alice and to Snape then nodded and stepped backwards, a pained look on his face.

* * *

Marlene and Alice led Lily back through the crowds, past the Three Broomsticks and into a small alleyway where they sat down on a bench, one girl on either side of Lily who pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them to her, burying her face in her arms.

They remained like that, sitting in silence. Marlene's mind was whirling. She couldn't quite believe what she'd just seen.

Beside her, Lily sniffed. "You were right Marls... I was such an idiot not to have seen it myself this morning. They planned this..."

Marlene put her hand on Lily's arm and opened her mouth to say something but she didn't know what could make this situation any better.

"I just thought – no, I _hoped_ that James had changed... I'm such a silly, naive person." Lily said putting her head in her arms again.

Marlene and Alice looked at each other over her head. Both of them were at a loss for what to say.

When they got back to the castle, Marlene and Alice escorted a very upset Lily up the steps towards the Entrance Hall.

They were halfway there when Marlene heard her name being called from behind them.

All three girls turned to face Sirius who was standing at the bottom of the steps, an almost sorry look on his face.

Lily and Alice both looked at Marlene who took a deep breath to calm herself down then slowly retraced her footsteps back towards him. "What?" she snapped when she reached him.

He opened his mouth. "What you saw back there, I had nothing to do with it –"

But Marlene stopped him from saying anything more when she realised that it was no good trying to keep a hold on her anger. Before she knew what she was doing, her hand connected with his face with a resounding _smack_. "Don't you dare try and excuse what you did Sirius Black you fucking arsehole! You – you and James should have known _exactly_ what you were doing would affect Lily! I cannot imagine how much more you could have fucked up!"

Sirius placed a hand over his stinging cheek and watched as Marlene made her way back up the steps to her friends who were both looking at her with open mouths.

He shook his head sadly, turned and hands stuffed into his pockets, headed back across the grounds and towards the lake.

* * *

Later that night, Lily woke to head sniffing noises coming from across the room.

Pushing back her covers, Lily felt her way across the room to Marlene's four poster bed and drew back the hangings.

"Marlene?" she whispered. "Are you alright?"

Marlene sat up and rubbed her face then whispered "I'm fine."

Lily sighed and bending, lit the lamp on Marlene's bedside table. "You know Marls, usually when people say they're fine, it usually means that they're not."

Marlene was silent. Lily saw tear lines shinning in the lamplight etching her friends face.

"Oh Marls," she said softly. "Is it Sirius?"

Marlene looked at her for a second then let out a sob and put her face in her hands, nodding.

"Come here!" Lily murmured, sitting down on the bed and holding out her arms.

Marlene shuffled forwards and hugged her, breaking down again.

"What's all of this Marley?" Lily asked, using Marlene's nickname that her family used and Lily did when her friend needed comforting. "You've never reacted to a boy this way, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." Marlene said miserably, clutching Lily's back.

Lily sighed and hugged her friend tightly. She thought that she had a good idea why.

* * *

**A/N** Hpe you enjoyed that chapter, what's going to happen next I wonder... :)

Thanks for reading

_Molteaser x_


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N** I'm so so sorry for not updating sooner, the exam revision brought my writing to a hold for a bit but here you are, chapter sixteen here at last! :)

Please Review, none of the characters, settings or anything are mine - they are the wonderful Jo's xx

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

The next few days were the gloomiest that Remus had ever experienced at Hogwarts. James was in a bad mood because Lily was ignoring him and Sirius was barely seen as he spent most of his free time going on long, solitary walks around the lake – sometimes for hours on end.

One Thursday evening, Remus and Peter were playing a game of wizard's chess in the common room and James was sitting in an armchair, staring into the fire.

The portrait hole opened and an extremely tired looking Sirius entered. He saw his friends sitting by the fire and walked slowly over.

"Hey Padfoot," Remus said, going for a cheerful approach. "Where have you been? Queen to D5." He added.

"Walking." Sirius replied shortly, sinking into an armchair and closing his eyes.

Remus nodded and turned back to his game. Peter had just put his King in Check. He was surprisingly good at this game.

A trickle of laughter floated across the common room.

Remus looked back up again in time to see Marlene, who was practically sitting on Taylor Downing's lap and laughing at something that apparently the sixth year had just said.

"I'm going to bed." Sirius muttered darkly. His eyes were narrowed and fixed on the pair across the room.

"This is stupid!" James snapped. "Why don't you just go up to her and say sorry for Merlin's sake!"

"Because I didn't do anything!" Sirius retorted.

"Except leave when you were supposed to be going to Hogsmead with her!" James sighed, rolling his eyes.

Peter was looking from one person to the other with wide eyes and Remus was watching the pair cautiously.

"I'm going to bed." Sirius repeated and he got up, walked over to the boy's dormitory staircase and disappeared up it, slamming the door behind him.

Remus flinched and looked around the common room. Everyone was staring at the place where Sirius had just vanished.

Marlene, Remus noticed was looking towards the staircase with a strange expression on her face.

He looked back at James who was shaking his head.

"Maybe you should go a little easier on him James." Remus said.

James looked at him incredulously. "_Go easy on him?!_ Merlin Remus, I'm just trying to help!"

"I know but I just don't think that telling him to apologise to Marlene and listing the things he did wrong was a particularly good way to help."

"I knew you'd take his side!" James snapped, getting to his feet. He walked over to the portrait hole.

"Where are you going?" Remus asked as he saw James take his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag.

"Walk." Was all he heard James say before the portrait door slammed shut.

Remus sat in the stunned silence of the common room. Everyone was staring at him and Peter.

"And that Pete," Remus said, sitting back in his seat. "Is what happens when women get into people's heads"

* * *

Marlene tore her gaze away from the door which Sirius had just slammed behind him.

"Some people are a bit grumpy this evening." Taylor Downing said from where he was sitting next to her.

Marlene looked towards the portrait hole. "I suppose..." she muttered. "I think I'm going to bed as well."

"Oh okay, maybe we could do this again some time."

"Uh yeah, maybe." Marlene replied knowing full well that that was never going to happen.

She cast one glance towards where Remus and Peter were now sitting alone by the fire. Both of them had tried to talk to her about Sirius but she didn't want to hear his excuses.

When she reached her dormitory, Marlene walked in to find Lily and Alice sitting on their beds talking.

Marlene walked over, threw herself down on her bed and started to examine her nails.

She hardly had to wait three seconds before Alice asked the question Marlene had been expecting. "What's going on down there? We heard the slamming from here."

Marlene sighed. "James and Sirius."

Lily grimaced. "Was the first one Sirius?"

Marlene nodded, not looking up.

"Thought so..." Lily murmured. "I think the whole of Gryffindor Tower felt it."

"What d'you do Marls? Slap him on the other side of his face." Alice joked.

Marlene just glared at her.

"Marlene, you weren't trying to make him jealous by any chance?" Lily asked in a constricted voice, "by pretending to get off with someone else?"

Marlene made a little noise in the back of her throat. "So what if I was?"

Lily and Alice both let out sighs of exasperation.

"What?" Marlene snapped defensively.

"Isn't it a bit sort of... harsh?" Lily said tentatively.

"Hey! What about you and James? Back to square one with you two."

"That's different!" Lily said, frowning.

"Yeah exactly. It is different Lils and that's why –" Marlene broke off before she said too much. She took a breath then spoke in a calmer voice. "Just let me do my own thing, okay?"

Lily and Alice looked at each other before both of them nodded, though Marlene could tell that Lily was agreeing reluctantly.

* * *

"Sirius! Hey Sirius!"

Sirius spun on his heel to see Maxwell McKinnon hurrying towards him. "Yes?"

"You urm, you dropped this." Maxwell handed Sirius a piece of old parchment. Sirius took it and stared down at it. He couldn't believe he'd nearly lost the Marauder's Map.

"Thanks." He said to the blond boy in front of him. He only knew Marlene's younger brother slightly as he was the year below Sirius. However, you could tell on sight that he was related to her; they had the same high cheekbones, same colour eyes and the same golden coloured hair.

"Anytime." Maxwell said dismissively. Then his tone changed and he said quietly. "How are you? I hope Marley's not treating you too badly."

Sirius shook his head and rubbed his forehead absentmindedly. "Just ignoring me."

"Mate, you're lucky she hasn't done anything worse yet. Last time a date didn't show, she decided to flaunt the fact that she was going out with the Gryffindor Keeper, every time her ex was around." Maxwell said shaking his head at his sister's antics.

"Isn't she doing that again?" Sirius muttered.

"What? No!" Maxwell said, laughing. "She thinks Taylor Downing's a right prick, she'd never go out with him. She's just playing with you. She wants to make you jealous."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah... Marlene loves taking revenge on people who have pissed her off and from what I've seen, you pissed her off very well."

A frown appeared on Sirius' face as he considered these words. Then he resumed his normal expression and said "uh, thanks Maxwell."

"Oh please!" the younger boy said rolling his eyes. "Call me Max – only my mother calls me _Maxwell!_"

Sirius let a grin grow on his face for the first time in what felt like days. "Thanks Max," he said sincerely.

* * *

"What's up?" Sirius asked, dropping into a seat next to James.

Remus stared at him from where he had been looking over Peter's Charms homework.

Peter and James were both looking at Sirius strangely as well.

"What's got into you?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I have decided to stop being a grumpy git and get on with life."

"And – and are you going to talk to her?" Remus asked hesitantly as he gestured towards Marlene sitting with her friends across the common room.

Sirius followed his gaze and sighed. "I'll talk to her. I need to talk to her."

Remus nodded and hoped for all of their sakes that Marlene would listen to him when he did talk to her.

* * *

"Learning about Animagi is a study that we went over in third year. This year however, we shall be covering the more complex details of the art." McGonagall said, pacing in front of her class.

Marlene fidgeted in her seat. She didn't want to be here.

"Learning how to _become_ an Animagus is an incredibly advanced branch of magic. It takes highly skilled witch or wizard to become one and even then, it could be years before they get it right."

Marlene couldn't help herself. She turned in her seat to sneak a glance at the Marauders sitting on the back row in the corner of the classroom.

James was sitting staring into space, Remus looked as though he wanted to be anywhere but there and Sirius was twirling his quill around his fingers, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Marlene looked back towards the front of the class before any of them caught her looking at them. She didn't understand why any of them were there even here; they all already knew exactly what it took to become Animagi.

When the bell rang for lunch, Marlene almost ran to the door, bumping into Remus in her haste to get out of the classroom and out of sight of a person who she could practically feel looking at her from across the room.

Muttering an apology to Remus, Marlene escaped, glancing just once over her shoulder. She could still see Sirius staring at her. It made her heart skip a beat and a shiver run down her back. Then the moment was gone and, hardening her heart, she walked out of the room towards the Great Hall.

* * *

"What an interesting lesson!" Lily gushed enthusiastically. "Wouldn't it be amazing to be an Animagus – I mean – imagine turning into an animal!"

Marlene made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat.

Lily, apparently unaware that Marlene lack her enthusiasm for the subject carried on talking about the lesson.

"Uh, guys, I think I might have left my wand in McGonagall's room." Marlene said, checking her bag. Her wand was not in there.

"Oh ok, we can come back with you if you want." Lily said cheerfully.

"No, it's fine. I'll catch you up." Marlene said, already turning to go back the way she had come.

She walked back to the Transfiguration classroom, moving slowly against the tide of students making their way in the opposite direction towards lunch.

The classroom was completely empty.

All except one singular person. He was sitting in the teacher's chair, feet up on the desk, her wand twirling between his fingers and his casual smirk playing about his mouth.

Marlene let out a sigh. "What is it with you and stealing other people's wands?"

* * *

**A/N** Hope you enjoyed. it's pretty obvious who the person is but maybe that's because I already know...

If you want a laugh, type into youtube 'The Marauders' there is a series of four episodes - completely inaccurate but if you want a laugh, they are hilarious.

Thanks for reading

_Molteaser x_


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N** Once again I'm really sorry for not updating, it is now the middle of my exams so I've been writing whenever I can. Here you are, a very Marlene/Sirius chapter, hope you don' mind ;) enjoy x

Please Review, none of the characters, settings or anything are mine - they are the wonderful Jo's xx

_Molteaser x_

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Sirius grinned cockily.

Marlene scowled back.

Both of them remained in that way, waiting for the other to break the silence.

Finally Sirius sighed and swung his legs off the table. "I need to talk to you."

Marlene smirked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Clearly... you've gone to such lengths to do so. How exactly did my wand come to be in your possession?"

"I bribed Remus to pickpocket you as you walked out. The door should be locked right now." He shot her a cheeky grin.

"You bribed him?"

"Yeah, he's such a sucker for Honeyduke's chocolate."

There was another silence. Marlene wanted to say something – anything, but her mind had been wiped blank and she couldn't think of anything.

Sirius frowned and shifted in his seat. "Look Marlene... about what happened last weekend..." his frown deepened.

"If you've dragged me in her to talk about that..."Marlene snapped, narrowing her eyes dangerously. If he had known her better, Sirius would have seen the danger signs. Unfortunately he didn't.

"Been having fun with Taylor Downing lately?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Marlene opened her mouth then closed it again.

Sirius shook his head. "Wow Marley, I really didn't think that you'd ever sink as low as that."

"Right," Marlene said. She felt beyond annoyed. "If we are going to list my faults, we might as well list yours as well! Where were you on Saturday?"

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about in the first place – okay, okay," Sirius said hastily when Marlene shot him a glare.

"I was waiting for you but I got a letter before you arrived; from my cousin, Andromeda. She basically wanted to tell me that she's been disowned – before Regulus or someone else did because you would not believe some of the things that my mother can come up with." Sirius laughed darkly.

"What did she do?" Marlene asked in a slightly softer voice, if only because Sirius never talked about his family to anyone except the Marauders.

Sirius looked at her for a second before answering. "She got engaged to a muggleborn."

"What – what did you do then?" Marlene asked, frowning.

"I went to find Regulus." Sirius said shortly. "Then we came to find you and before you ask; that whole thing with Snivellus was none of our faults – no!" he added when Marlene opened her mouth. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make excuses for James but Snape provoked him. He insulted Lily; called her 'mudblood' and stuff, James reacted but I promise that I wasn't involved."

"I – I saw you attacking him..." Marlene said. She shook her head slightly and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah, well I'm not saying that I'm completely innocent but..." he trailed off again. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that, I was coming to Hogsmead to find you."

"So you didn't leave on purposely?" Marlene asked, barely daring to believe her ears.

"Jeeze Marley, what do you take me for?"

"A Marauder." Marlene replied instantly, ignoring the use of her nickname. "So you didn't then?"

"No, I may be a Marauder but I never break my promises." Sirius told her gravely.

"Except to every girl you've ever seduced." Marlene said.

"I never made any of them any promises." Sirius said raising his eyebrows.

There was another silence.

"I'm sorry... for slapping you – and not listening to you when you tried to explain. Heck, I got everything wrong didn't I?" Marlene muttered, cringing as she recalled what had happened the past few days. "I'm sorry for all of it."

Sirius hesitated then got up and walked over to her, sitting on the desk next to her. "I'm sorry as well." He said quietly. "I should have just waited until I went to find Regulus. I should have done a lot of things differently."

"So what happens now?" Marlene asked after a while of silence.

"I don't know..." Sirius muttered, glancing at her. "I mean, I still like you Marley, but I've probably blown my chance with that."

Marlene was quiet for a while, considering what she was going to say. The words just seemed to bubble to her mouth and burst out before she'd actually decided what it was she was about to say. "You haven't blown it." Then she caught his eye and she added quickly. "I just want to be friends... just now – for a while."

Sirius studied her for a moment.

Marlene began to worry that she'd said too much and yet not enough to convince him that she did still like him, she just wanted it to work out because above all, Marlene valued his friendship.

"Friends..." Sirius muttered, not taking his eyes from hers. He said it as if he was testing the word out on his tongue rather than dismissing it completely. After another pause he said "well, Ii suppose we could try."

"Thank you." Marlene said quietly. "Do me a favour will you and don't tell the others about this whole thing." She smiled. "I have a reputation to keep."

"Not to worry, I know _exactly_ what you mean." Sirius grinned, nodding conspiratorially. "My lips are sealed if yours are."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Remus noticed Professor McGonagall leaving the teachers table and he hurried to unlock the classroom door before she got there. He hadn't been entirely sure of what he would find when he did; his mind had come up with a dozen possible situations that ranged from him interrupting a make out session to him finding Sirius dead on the floor. He had not expected to find, when the door swung open, the pair of them sitting next to each other in the centre of the room, deep in conversation about... Quidditch.

"The Holyhead Harpies could defiantly beat the Tornadoes, I mean, come on Sirius; the _Tornadoes?"_

Sirius shook his head, reminding Remus of a dog and glanced up at Remus. "Hey Moony, do you want to add your voice to the debate."

"Love too," Remus said, "but right now, McGonagall is on her way and as much as you two getting caught sitting in her classroom debating Quidditch would be extremely funny, I don't think that that would make me a very good friend so..."

"Right," Sirius said getting up. "We shall continue this tonight in the common room."

Marlene laughed and accepted the hand that Sirius offered her, saying cheerfully, "gladly."

As Sirius walked out of the room, Remus whispered to him, "You owe me Pads!"

All he got in return was a whack to the stomach. Remus laughed and followed them towards the Great Hall.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks for reading hope you liked it. Reviews please *puppy dog face* pwerty please... aha I mght start doing the "I want 5 reviews before I post the next chapter" thing :))

_Molteaser x_


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